


Lavender Blood [Hiatus]

by kYkxsSh



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - High School, Druids, Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, Minor Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Werewolves, Wicca, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-08-17 04:11:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16509152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kYkxsSh/pseuds/kYkxsSh
Summary: [ There's a crack of a twig behind him, and he feels a puff of hot breath on his neck. Renjun whimpers but slowly turns his head.There's a snarl and red. ]- Renjun has just moved to Cooperville, a small town in the northern part of the United States. Not only is he having to adjust to a new culture and country, but Cooperville holds evil that his lavender candles and salt can't cleanse. -





	1. 01

**Author's Note:**

> Back with another fic...  
> Annoying I know. 
> 
> I thought of this story because I was going through my witch box yesterday night and thought of how cool Witch!Renjun would be, so it just happened. 
> 
> Again NoRen is my third favorite ship for some reason? Right after ChanBaek and LuWoo. IDK what's wrong with me. 
> 
> Also I didn't tag all of NCT, but every member will be here but in short bursts because this focuses of the dreamies. 
> 
> Also also Zitao and Renjun are brothers in this, because they're my main Chinese idols and I love this concept.
> 
> I update slow, but this will be a finished fic unlike my other two that I just lost interest in. So buckle up kiddies!
> 
>  
> 
> Unbeta'd so apologizes for the spelling!  
> Also I'm not a strong writer . Bewarned 
> 
> Also on Wattpad under the user ssoftwoo

_ Trees. Trees. Trees _ .

 

Renjun never thought he would be so sick of seeing trees in his life. 

 

He was use to the bustling city of Hong Kong, the city that breathed a night and sang in the day. Glowing lights and car alarms. Now it was trees, trees, and more  _ trees _ .

 

The car he's been sitting in for the last six hours is quiet, with only the radio playing on low volume and the soft purr of the engine as background noise. They've been on the same highway for at least two of those six hours now and it's the same scenery as the first moment they hit the road. Trees, trees, more  _ trees _ .

 

His legs are cramped and his back hurts.

 

It's getting late in the evening now, the sun is peeking through in some spots of the surrounding woods, the rays kissing the soil goodnight and letting the blue hour start it's clock. Renjun can see the moon rising from the tree line behind their car, seeing it gives him a sense of home.

 

He doesn't hate that they've moved, in fact he doesn't mind at all and understands why it happened. But Hong Kong was his home. The cheap apartment they rented for the last seven years is empty now, his old friends know he's gone, and he will never be able to taste the street food again for a long while. But seeing the moon makes me feel safe, because it's the same moon he saw at night at home, and nothing can change that. 

 

Renjun sighs as he continues to watch the trees as they pass by. He faintly hears his brother clear his throat but he's unsure if it's intentional or subconscious. When the action is repeated however he turns to give his brother his attention. 

 

Huang Zitao, or maybe it's Zitao Huang now that they're in America, has been watching his little brother from out of the corner of his eye.  

 

He knows the move was harder on Renjun than he says or acts. It was hard on Zitao himself, what with saying goodbye to all of his friends, coworkers, and even Grandma Zhong from next door. Goodbyes are hard, but it had to be done. Zitao hopes his brother understands that, but he's sure he does. 

 

Zitao is looking back at the road though when Renjun turns to him, he dark eyes scanning the asphalt ahead and watching the tree line for animals feeling brave. 

 

Renjun has a feeling what his brother is about to say is something that he knows already. 

 

“Jun..” Zitaos voice is soft, softer than it normally is, and Renjun notes he's speaking English instead of their mother tongue. But again, Renjun understands why so he doesn't even question it as he replies back in the same language. 

 

“Yes, Gē?” Renjuns own voice is just as soft, accent faintly dripping off his consonants much to his annoyance.  Zitao says it adds to his cute imagine, thinking the soft tilt of his words go good with his soft aura and even softer appearance. 

 

While Zitao is tall and has lightly defined muscle, with tan skin and defined facial features. Renjun is on the shorter and thinner side, with paler skin than his brother and soft features. Zitao always said Renjun took after their mother while he himself looked just like their father. Not that Renjun ever met them honestly. 

 

There's a moment of silence after Renjun responds that has him raising his brows, Zitao seems hesitant to speak more. 

 

Zitao is biting at his bottom lip and tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, eyes not leaving the road. 

 

“This town we're moving to...the people living there...they…” another pause “they can't know about us okay?” 

 

Renjun makes an agreeing noise in his throat, because he already knows this. Zitao had been drilling it into his head since they landed on American soil. The people can't know. 

 

They can't know that Zitao and Renjun have something just shy of powers. They can't see them mix potions and elixirs or watch them cast spells. Can't be around them while they do their rituals or absorb magik from the earth. They can't have people know they're witches here. They'd have to move again. 

 

Zitao knows his brother understands, but feels the need to repeat and repeat. Maybe he's just trying to calm himself down instead.

 

The car becomes quiet again and Renjun turns to watch more trees. 

  
  
  
  
  


Cooperville is a small town, off the map and perfect for them to hide in. It's surrounded by the same thick Forrest they passed on the highway.

 

_ God Renjun is really sick of trees. _

 

The town has a few family owned businesses on it's main strip, like a dinner, an automotive shop, and a small clothing shop. One Clinic and three schools buildings all just out of downtown. It's small. 

 

The surrounding neighborhoods are typical cookie cutter homes with small families and lawn dogs. 

 

Renjun watches as the buildings pass them before they come to a stop on the outskirts of town. He looks at their new home with a slight frown. 

 

The house they've pulled up to is decently sized, plenty of room for just the two of them, with an old style to it. The pale blue outter paint is chipping in places and the wrap around porch is warped from age and weather. The house itself is two story with large front windows. It could be worse Renjun decides.

 

Renjun follows as Zitao gets out of the car, Renjun still taking in the view as Zitao opens the back and trunk to get their packed things. 

 

They could only pack so much into their small car, and shipping their things from China would cost them too much, meaning they'll have to replace well over half of their belongings. A sad tale really. 

 

Zitao has already grabbed both of their suitcases by the time Renjun finally looks away from the house to help. Renjun shuts the trunk behind his brother after grabbing the last bag before also grabbing the bags from the backseat and following.

 

The inside is dark and but surprisingly warm and calming. There's a staircase to the directly left of the door and a large open living room that connects to the kitchen and dining room to the right. 

 

They both set their bags down for a moment and Zitao makes a noise in his throat, speed walking down a small hall passed the stairs and a softly mumbled “I'm about to piss myself” as he goes. 

 

Renjun snorts and rolls his eyes. He steps into the living room and looks at the bare room. It's fairly large, with egg shell colored wallpaper dotted with flowers, there's a couch and recliner in the corner of the room that must have been left by the previous owners, an empty fireplace and finally a TV stand in the corner beside a large window. 

 

It's unimpressive so Renjun peaks his head through the archway of the kitchen-dining room and snorts when he notices that while there's a dining table, chairs, and refrigerator, there's no oven. 

 

Renjun hears a loud flush noise and cursing from down the hall and smiles. 

 

Zitao stomps out of the bathroom with a frown and sighs as he makes eye contact with his brother. 

 

“The plumbing is shit right now. I'll call someone tomorrow to come fix it…” 

 

Renjun hums.

 

“There's no oven” 

 

Zitao makes a pained noise and pouts like an oversized dog.

 

“Damnit…” 

  
  
  
  
  


The two brothers drag their suitcases up the creaking stairs, Renjun being nervous every time he plants his feet on a new step. 

 

The upstairs is just as bare as the first floor, with only four rooms in total. Three bedrooms and a small bathroom. Zitao takes the biggest room, much to his brothers annoyance, and leaves Renjun to pick from the other two himself. 

 

He picks the one that has the biggest window, which faces the thick tree line. It's bare besides a wardrobe in the corner away from the window, the floor is hardwood and the walls have pale blue wallpaper. There's a light in the center of the ceiling, and Renjun is tentative to try the electric. 

 

Renjun sets his case down to the side and hums, leaning down and unzipping it. It's full of clothes but shoved into the corner is a small black box. He takes the box out and stands back up. 

 

Inside is a collection of herbs, teeth, bones, rocks and more. Renjun ignores everything except a small bottle of white salt. He takes the bottle out and sets the box down beside his suitcase silently. 

 

Renjun walks to the window, takes a short glance along it's treeline and hums as he pours a thin line of the salt along the window seal. He looks over his work before nodding to himself and walking back to his door and repeating the whole process. 

 

The house doesn't give him bad vibes, the forest does. It smells of death and rot and Renjun wants nothing to do with it. 

  
  
  
  
  


After they've picked their rooms and moved into the living room to sleep and relax does Renjun bring up the forest. 

 

Zitao is on the recliner now pushed out of the corner and closer to the couch, typing something on his laptop, glasses perch on his nose, eyes squinted and focused. Renjun himself is on the dusty couch that's been pushed into the center of the room, his black box sitting in his lap as he fidgets with a bundle of sage and lavender. It's quiet and there's a fire crackling in the small fireplace in front of them, there's a screech owl outside that's getting annoying and the crickets make Renjuns blood boil.

 

But Renjun breaks their silent aura. 

 

“Line your windows and doors tonight. I did mine and the rest of the house already. “

 

Zitao looks up with his eyebrows raised and a frown on his lips.

 

“Why? Did you see something?” 

 

Renjun sighs, he wishes Zitao wouldn't ask for an explanation.

 

“No, but the forest gives me bad vibes. Dangerous vibes.” 

 

Zitao looks concerned for a moment, but Renjun can see the amusement in his dark circle ringed eyes.

 

It's annoying, being so much younger than Zitao. In reality they're not that much different in age, Zitao is freshly 21 while Renjun is just under 18, but those three years is enough for Zitao to make Renjun seem childish. 

 

It happened a lot in China. Renjun would warn Zitao of a feeling and his brother would brush it off, always to backfire. This time however Renjun is scared for the backfire.

 

Renjun locks eyes with his brother, a pleading look in his own. Zitao seems to understand as he frowns and the amusement fades. 

 

Zitao sighs and nods though.

 

“Okay…” 

 

Renjun sighs and mumbles a thank you. 

  
  


_ Cooperville is a small town surrounded by the smell of evil and Renjun doesn't think sage and salt will make it fade.  _


	2. 02

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bad dreams, 5 new friends, 1 potential crush, a group chat, and it's only the first day of school for Renjun...

_The air is thick and smells of soil, the sun is gone and only the blue glow of the moonlight above lights the forest floor._

 

_Twigs snap in the distance and growls make Renjuns body run faster._

 

_His legs burn and his heart is hammering in his chest. He smells iron and feels something wet on his face and body, pain blossoms up his shoulder and back as he moves._

 

_He's jumping over downed trees and stumps, thorns cut his bare legs and mud and dirt seep into his sock covered feet. His breath is ragged and wheezing with every gasp he takes and his mind is fuzzy and blurred._

 

_He's past knowing why he's running, just running now. Renjuns unsure of the reason, but the howling and thudding behind him gives him an idea._

 

_Subconsciously he knows what's about to happen, and it plays out like the movies._

 

_Renjun trips on a log, face hitting a stray limb and he feels pain explode in his body as he hits the ground. He's defenseless, he can't feel any magik in him He's blank and dull, he can't feel his bond with the goddess, can't feel the Earth's energies, can't feel his own blood flow._

 

_Suddenly he can't move, it all hurts too much. But he forces himself up and let's a whimper pass his chapped and bloody lips._

 

_He's trying to remember what happened, why he's here and what's going on, but nothing is popping up._

 

_The air smells of death and rot and it's making his stomach turn._

 

_Renjun lets out a ragged sob as he feels his shoulder move as he shifts, the pain overpowering his disoriented mind._

 

_Renjun tries his best to look over his shoulder, finding torn tissue and skin, shaped like ragged claws._

_He can't think straight, because nothing is right. This place is death and Renjun can feel it's hands grasp his life force._

 

_As Renjun looks around him, eyes and head darting fast enough to cause whiplash, he notices how silent it has become. It's the type of silence that should calm him down but does the opposite. Because it's over in a blink. It's ominous and creepy._

 

_There's a crack of a twig behind him, and he feels a puff of hot breath on his neck. Renjun whimpers but slowly turns his head._

 

_There's a snarl and red._

  
  


Renjun startles awake.

 

Heart hammering like in his dream, but instead of a dark forest he stares around his slightly less empty bedroom. His face and body is damp with sweat and to Renjun it feels heavy like blood.

 

It's the third dream he's had since they moved in a week ago. Always the same dream.

 

It forms a lump in his throat and anxiety boils in his chest.

 

Renjun lays in bed for a moment, eyes darting to the small charm bag above his head on the wall. The aura is off he notices, but it's not corrupted.

 

Since the first night they arrived he's set charms and spells along the house. And after the first nightmare he made the dream charm and placed more salt and candles along his windows.

 

He delved into older magick, spells from their families grimoire and takes of old. But always the dreams come and the spells are left with off auras.

 

Maybe that's what worries him the most, the fact that this means it's not someone purposefully sending him hex's but rather something else. Something that makes him feel uneasy.

 

Renjun didn't tell Zitao about the first two dreams, it seemed unnecessary and a little childish. They're just nightmares, scary sure, but nightmares all the same. It's not uncommon. But it's leaving a bad taste in his mouth.

 

He can't tell his brother, not when they only just got settled, Zitao started working already and even Renjun himself starts school today. It's bad timing.

 

_If it happens one more time...then I'll tell him_

 

Renjun sighs as he slowly sits up and tugs his legs over the side of his bed. He pops his back and scrunches up his nose when his feet hit the cold floor.

 

He lets his eyes wander to his window, that's lined with black and white candles, sage and small spell jars. He lets his gaze fall past them, to that damned Forest.

 

He can't pinpoint what makes those trees so unnatural. It's a deep feeling in his bones, one that agitates his chakras and messes up his thoughts. That fucking forest is evil and he knows it.

 

Renjun sigh and turns away. He makes quick work of his morning routine and dresses in a simple white shirt, yellow hoodie and dark blue jeans. He leaves his hair as it is in it's untamable blond curly mess and grabs his heavy backpack from beside the door.

 

Zitao is standing over the counter typing on his phone as always while sipping at a cup of coffee when Renjun enters the kitchen. There's toast sitting on a plate near the edge of the counter so Renjun snags it, shoving the whole piece in his mouth and getting a very disturbed look from his brother afterwards.

 

Their house is much more furnished now, with their rooms looking more like bedrooms, the living room has another recliner and end tables with lamps to make it more homey, and the kitchen officially has an oven.

 

It's much more warm and welcoming, even if it creaks and groans at night.

 

Renjun and Zitao don't speak as they leave the house, but this isn't an abnormality for them. The brother live in comfortable silence unless otherwise needed. Maybe it's weird, but it works for them.

 

Once outside Renjun smiles at the plants that now line their porch, ranging from succulents to Basil all along the edge and hanging from the roof.

 

Honestly the more Renjun looks at the house the more it looks like a grandmother lives there instead of two young men.

 

The drive is still silent, only the radio and motor making noise.

 

Renjun thinks about the dreams, the nightmares. Feels the pain in his shoulder, burn in his legs and the panic in his throat. They're bad.

 

Maybe he should tell Zitao. But like he reasoned before, they're finally settled. Finally have a home again.

 

_Maybe he's just paranoid about living in a new place, yeah, and his brain is projecting those fears as a monster trying to eat him. That has to be it!_

 

Renjun pauses in his thoughts as he feels the car stop, not even noticing they've arrived so quickly.

 

The school is a decent size, smaller than his old one in China but bigger than he expected.

 

There's teenagers and preteens loitering around the front, and a few running in the building at full speed. Renjun suddenly hates moving.

 

As he looks at this school, with it's premade cliques and mid semester hustle and bustle, he misses his friends and his classroom. He misses his old teachers and the nice Janitor's. The smell of his textbooks and getting lunch down the street everyday.

 

Now he's having to memorize a new schedule, do different work, talk in front of people, eat terrible lunches and speak to strangers. _Fuck, English don't fail me now_

 

Zitao seems to notice his brothers stress and sighs, leaning over to pat his shoulder in comfort. The two brothers step out of the car and make their way into the building.

The commons area is packed with students, all speaking loudly and standing on tables. Renjun feels a few close to them eye him curiously and it makes him feel like he's under a microscope.

 

Walking into the main office let's Renjuns heart slowly calm down and the anxiety to fade. There's only one student inside and one middle aged woman at the main desk. She gives them a smile as they step up to the desk.

 

“Hello! How can I help you?”

 

Zitao sends her a smile of his own.

“Hi, I'm Zitao Huang and this is my brother Renjun, he needs his schedule and I think I need to sign some things.. “

 

The woman seems a bit thrown off by Zitaos accent and name, but smiles still and nods.

 

“Okay, Mr Huang could you please fill out the rest of this forum please.” She pulls out a folder from her desk drawer and hands Zitao a clipboard with a small stack of papers on it, then pulls a sheet from the same folder and hands it to Renjun. “Here's your schedule sweetie, classrooms are numbered so it shouldn't be too hard to find them. You're free to go and find your first period once the bell rings!”

 

Renjun nods and takes the paper. Anxiety boiling in his chest again.

 

He turns to his brother, who is already looking at him, and sends him a small nervous smile. Zitao let's his lip twitch up slightly and ruffles Renjuns hair, earning a whined protest.

 

With his hair even messier Renjun stomps out of the office, leaving Zitao to snort and finish the forums.

  
  
  


Renjun doesn't know where his classroom is, literally has no clue.

 

He found his locker and has been standing in front of it for a good minute blankly looking at his schedule in hopes for it to suddenly give him a map.

  


He's about to say _to hell with it_ and ask teacher when two boys around his age walk to the locker next to his, both conversing in loud voices.

 

Renjun notes that the shorter one is whining in a high pitched voice, seemingly trying to get something from the other.

“Please Nana!”

 

The taller, _Nana_ , huffs in amusement and shakes his head as he opens the locker and takes out books.

 

“No Hyuck, you should have done the work yourself last night instead of texting Mark.”

 

 _Hyuck_ gasps in mock offense at his friend and a hand flies to his chest.

 

“How dare! I was not texting Mark! I was calling him. There's a difference.”

 

Maybe it's the seriousness in his voice or the whine he let's out but suddenly Renjun can't hold in the snort that forces itself past his lips.

 

He stands there for a moment with wide eyes and prays they didn't notice him accidently listening to their conversation.

 

_He's not lucky today_

 

 _Hyuck_ leans his head to the side and watches Renjun with curiosity and mischievous eyes. _Nana_ is also looking at Renjun, and even though he isn't much taller than him Renjun feels small.

 

Renjun bites his lips and side eyes them before stuttering out an apology.

 

“Ah…S-sorry, I didn't mean eavesdrop…”

 

 _Nana_ smiles kindly and shakes his head.

 

“You're fine! We were talking kinda loud anyways. “ He lets out a small laugh “I don't think I've seen you around before, I'm Jaemin!”

 

Jaemin is a little taller than Renjun, not extremely but enough to notice, he's slender with a smooth handsome face, and topped with soft pink colored hair. His smiles nice and his aura calms Renjuns heart.

 

Renjun smiles and feels his face heat up a little.

 

“Oh um yeah, today's my first day...I'm Renjun…” suddenly Renjuns English sucks.

 

Jaemin is still smiling and about to speak again but another voice speaks up first.

 

“Hey, you sound like LeLe! Are you Chinese too?!”

 

The voice spoken belongs to _Hyuck_ , who has yet to introduce himself. He's the same height as Renjun with pretty tan skin, soft eyes and a sweet boyish face. His hair also a curly light brown, but with small pink, blue and green highlights.

 

Renjun blinks and feels his face heat up again.

 

“Um…”

 

“Donghyuck! What the hell?”

 

 _Donghyuck_ looks to Jaemin with a confused pout at being yelled at.

 

“What? It was an honest question!” He whined

 

Jaemin sighs and rolls his eyes before turning to Renjun, who is still watching the exchange with a cautious look.

 

“I'm sorry about him, this is Donghyuck. He's loud and annoying, you can ignore him for the most part. “

 

Donghyuck lets out a loud high pitched noise of protest and smacks Jaemins arm, whining about _respecting your elders._ Renjun, although confused, smiles in amusement.

 

The dorky introduction however is interrupted by the warning bell ringing.

 

Renjun feels panic raise in his chest again as he remembers his situation. He looks to Jaemin and Donghyuck and clears his throat nervously, and speaks softly.

 

“Um...do you guys know where room 113 is?”

 

Jaemin blinks before smiling brightly.

 

“Yeah that's our class! Come on!”

 

And with they they're off, Donghyuck dragging Renjun by the wrist and Jaemin dragging Donghyuck by the collar.

  
  
  
  


Thankfully 113 isn't far from his locker, and he prides himself in his memory.

 

The classroom is half filled with kids, and a middle-aged woman sits at a desk in the front of the room. Renjun takes shakey steps to her, nerves building again.

 

She looks up and smiles.

 

“Hello, are you Renjun? Um...did I pronounce that correctly?”

 

Renjun smiles and nods quickly.

 

“Okay good! Welcome to Algebra two!”

 

She stands quick and smiles as she pulls him to the front of the classroom, that's now been filled minus two seats. She puts her hand on one of his shoulders kindly and speaks to the class.

 

“Everyone! This is Renjun, I expect you all to be nice to him and help him if he needs it!”

 

Renjun swallows shyly as the class directs their attention to him. The teacher speaks again, to him this time.

 

“Why don't you sit next to Jaemin, Jaemin raise your hand for me!”

 

Renjun felt relief flood his system as Jaemins hand shoots up in the air happily. He nods to the kind teacher and speed walks between the desks to sit next his _sort_ a friend.

 

Donghyuck surprisingly sits on the other side of Jaemin, and he sends Renjun a toothy grin and a small wave.

  
  


Class is boring, Renjun has already learned most of the current material so he just sits silently and mumbles with Jaemin.

 

He learns that Jaemin grew up in Cooperville, has an older step brother named Jaehyun, and he loves dance. It's amusing, seeing how Jaemin is collected and simple but confident and funny. He's kind and makes Renjun feel comfortable and that's all that matters.

  


It's the end of class and Jaemin turns to Renjun as they pack their bags again.

 

“Hey what's your schedule like?”

 

Renjun blinks for a split second before making a soft gasped noise and pulling out his schedule paper and handing to Jaemins awaiting hand. Donghyuck looks over Jaemins shoulder curiously and smiles.

 

“Hey we share most classes!”

 

Renjun let's a small smile work it's way onto his face, happy to have a _sorta_ friend in his other classes.

 

Jaemin also smiles and hands the paper back to Renjun.

 

“Donghyuck is right we all share most classes. It think there's only two we don't but you'll meet the gang at lunch, so you're bound to share with one of the guys. Um, that is if you want to eat with us of course!”

 

Renjun smiles again and let's a soft breathy giggle pass his lips as he sees Jaemins light blush at the end of his babble.

 

“I'd love to sit with you guys!”

 

Jaemin smiles shyly and clears his throat, grabbing Donghyuck, who's smirking, and starts towards the door.

 

“Let's go!”

 

Renjun laughs again, but follows nevertheless.

  
  
  


Renjun shares the first three classes with both Jaemin and Donghyuck, and thankfully sits with them in all.

 

Like his first class, he knows the material already so most of the time he's sitting pretty or talking to one of the boys.

 

He finds out that he's the second oldest of Jaemin and Donghyucks friend group, the oldest being a guy named Mark, who Donghyuck says he's dating. There's a total of six of them, Mark and Jeno who are brothers, Donghyuck, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung. Jaemin talks about how they've all been friends for a while, with Chenle being their newest addition, but that was four years ago.

 

Renjun feels both anxious and relief. He's met a group (two of said group actually) that are kind enough to take him in and help him out, but at the same time he's a stranger amongst a family. He doesn't know their inside jokes or how they act, doesn't know their life stories or their habits. It's nerve wracking and exciting all at the same time.

 

Then there's the conflict of himself, his own story and being. The abilities he'll have to hide and keep secret. The things he'll have to do under their noses. It's worrisome but eases his heart at the same time.

 

He wants friends, like the ones back in China. He wants to go to people's homes and do normal teenage things, it's the only normal thing he can get in his life.

  


Renjun is busted out of his thoughts by Donghyuck and the dismissal bell screeching at the same time.

 

“Lunch time!”

 

Before he can even comprehend what's happening, Donghyuck has his bag packed and is out the door. Jaemin is left beside Renjun rolling his eyes and packing his own things at a normal pace.

 

Renjun shakes his head, Donghyuck antics amuse him, and makes him look at him in a little brother sort of sense. It's weird, how much of a pull these two have on him.

 

He's barely known them for three hours and he don't like thinking how he almost didn't met them.

 

Like mentioned before they calm him down, not just emotionally but his being is calm as well. His chakras are soothed, something he struggles with keeping calm daily.

 

But before Renjun can submerge himself in his mind again, Jaemin is tugging at his sleeve.

 

Renjun blinks up at Jaemin for a moment, before Jaemins wide happy smiles makes his break into his own smile and allows himself to be dragged out of the classroom.

  


The cafeteria was packed with loud teenagers. All sitting at tables with their friends, eating food, gossiping and even doing work for next classes.

 

Renjun felt eyes on him as Jaemin and Donghyuck dragged him to a round table near the back, one with three people already sitting at it.

 

Renjun watches as Donghyuck runs to the table and plops himself down and throwing his arms around a boy with black hair and high cheekbones, who snorts and pats the excitable boys arm over his chest.

 

Jaemin pulls Renjun to sit next to him, and causes Renjun to be awkwardly sitting on the edge of the bench with nerves.

 

On the bench beside Jaemin is two boys, both look a little younger than Renjun but not by much if any. The shorter has hair that's dyed green, a cute face, and a large toothy smile that's currently being flashed. The tallers hairs dyed an orangish color, even sitting down Renjun can tell he's the tallest of the group, with a boyish face and a confused look.

 

Jaemin smiles at Renjun before turning to the three unnamed boys with an equally sweet smile.

 

“Guys, this is Renjun! He just moved here.”

 

Renjun smiles awkward and shyly at the attention, but none seem deterred. Jaemin is quick to make introductions.

 

“This is Jisung” Jaemin points at the tall boy with the orange hair, who waves with a small smile of his own. “Chenle” now he's pointing at the kid with green hair, and now that he has a name he remembers Donghyuck saying he was Chinese. “And that's Mark”

 

Renjun suddenly remembers the conversation he overheard that morning, about Donghyuck talking to a boy named Mark and saying they were dating, and it makes sense now how Donghyuck has draped himself on top of him.

 

Renjun smiles at everyone, minus Mark who's busy looking down at a textbook and letting Donghyuck lean on his shoulder.

 

Chenle looks hopeful as he watches Renjun, and honestly Renjun feels just as comfortable around these new guys as Jaemin and Donghyuck. Renjun sends Chenle a smile as he speaks to him.

 

“ _Hello! You're Chinese right? Donghyuck-ge said so in our group chat!”_

 

Renjun let's out a sigh of content. Hearing his mother language is sweet and grounding, because whiles he's fluent in English he knows he can be hard to understand at times.

 

“ _Yes, I'm Chinese! It's nice to speak my native language after having to speak English for so long…”_

 

Chenle lets out a loud high pitched laugh, it's cute but hurts Renjuns ears.

 

_“I totally get it! I can't remember the last time I spoke anything other than English! Not even at home.”_

 

Renjun nods sadly to that, because it's the same at home. Zitao says it's so he's always practicing English, but Renjun gets the feeling there's more to it.

 

_“Same for me...oh, maybe we should speak English again though, the others are confused…”_

 

Chenle and Renjun snort when they look at the group all staring at them with wide eyes. Jisung is blinking rapidly, Mark is watching their exchange with something akin to amusement, Jaemin is smiling and shaking his head affectionately, and Donghyuck looks more amased than anything.

 

“Wow, I don't think I've ever seen a foreign language conversation before...like other than Spanish...and even then…”  Donghyuck babbles.

 

Renjun feels his face heat up and he ducks his head, laughing nervously.

 

“S-sorry, I just haven't spoken Mandarin in the whole time I've been in the states…”

 

The group blinks before nodding in sympathy, Chenle only knowing the feeling Renjun feels on the subject.

 

Suddenly though Donghyuck speaks up.

 

“Hey guys, where's Jeno?”

 

Renjun pops his head up at the name of someone new, _great another name to remember_.

 

Jaemin frowns and looks around the cafeteria, Jisung doing the same and Chenle looking too immersed in his phone to reply now. Thankfully Mark speaks up, startling Renjun slightly as he hadn't spoken yet.

 

“He's running late, had to stay after for Mr. Johnson's class again.”

 

“That idiot!”  Jaemin sighs.

 

Chenle is next to exclaim. “This is the fifth time this month…”

 

“Mark! Do something!”

 

Mark looks scandalized, pressing a hand to his chest and frowning at Donghyuck, who just yelled at him.

 

“I can't do anything! He doesn't listen to me! The little shit is about to get his ass kicked though. “

 

Renjun furrows his brows and looks about the group, _who's Jeno?_

 

Thankfully Donghyuck senses Renjuns confusion because he sighs and looks at the smaller boy.  “Jeno is Marks little brother. He's always getting in trouble with Mr. Johnson! He teaches physical, I don't even understand how Jeno pisses him off so much…”

 

Renjun nods and the group make noises of agreement, but their attention is shifted to a new comer. Renjun hears him before he sees him.

 

“Shit! Sorry guys, Mr. Johnson ke-”

 

“Kept you again because you did something, blah blah blah! Every other day Jeno!” Jaemin exclaims.

 

A body plops down on the bench next to Renjun, and he feels his cheeks heat when he glances at who just joined.

 

 _Jeno_ is handsome to say the least, with soft looking dyed blond hair that falls in his eyes, eyes that disappear when he smiles. His face is defined and adult like, and Renjun is really questioning his age. His looks definitely don't match his smile or happy attitude.

 

Renjun freezes as he makes eye contact with Jeno, who seems to pause as well before smiling that cute eye smile and speaking in a softer voice.

 

“Hello! I'm Jeno, you must be Renjun!”

 

Renjun feels his cheeks heat up more, but smiles a small smile and nods, not trusting his voice one bit. Suddenly Renjun feels like a panicked gay.

 

The group are watching their exchange with levels of amusement, even Mark has lifted his head from his book and is watching his brother and Renjun with a sparkle in his eyes.

  
  


Lunch moves fast after Jeno arrives, Donghyuck adds Renjun into their little group chat, Jaemin snorts milk out of his nose after Chenle screamed that high picture scream of his when Jisung poked his ribs, Mark studies most of the time only adding commentary every few topics, and Jeno is absorbed in his lunch, scarfing it down like he's starving. Renjun watches and interacts when needed but is otherwise fairly silent.

 

It's different from China, this group of friends he means. Back home Yang Yang and XiaoJun would joke about his love for Moomin and even Yuqi would toss in her own sass every now and again at lunch. They'd go down the street from the school and get rice and dumplings almost everyday, and talk about their classes and home lives. Here however they're sitting in one room at one table, all talking about different things, and Renjun really feels like an outsider.

 

He gets it, it's his first day and first day meeting them all, but he feels that lack of a bond enough for it to bug him. Their auras calm him, but he can't fully grasp it because of the nervousness.

 

Mark and Jeno give him weird vibes, it's not evil or off-putting but it's a small buzz in his center that tells him there's something strange about the two. Even Donghyuck, despite having such a calm aura and sweet energy, feels off. Maybe it's just him being nervous and anxious but it's there nonetheless.

 

Renjun sees Jeno watching him out of the corner of his eye, he's not sure if he should look back or not. Human interaction is hard.

 

The dismissal bell rings and they all stand, and while Renjun is standing up a feels a hand tap his shoulder tentatively. He turns to see Renjun with an awkward shy smile and forces the urge to _coo_ aside.

 

“Hey what's your schedule like?” Jeno asks softly.

 

Renjun pulls his sheet out without question, this is becoming a recurring task it seems, and hands it to the slightly taller boy.

 

With the paper in Jeno's hand Renjun takes a moment to awkwardly look at him.

 

Sexuality was never and will never be a problem for Renjun, honestly he's never liked someone no matter the gender. He always considered himself just Renjun, appreciating both genders for the aesthetic. He never found anyone sexually appealing actually.

 

Zitao himself never actually told Renjun what he was, but Renjun gets the feeling he's kinda like himself. Not caring. But Zitao was known for breaking the gender norm back home, and Renjun is almost positive that he still paints his nails every few days.

 

So for the first time Renjun feels overwhelmed while looking at Jeno.

 

Jeno is pretty but manly, cute but strong, dorky but serious. It's a weird combination, and Renjun has only known him for a lunch period.

 

Renjun likes his face, it's handsome and sculptured and reminds him of Roman statues in museums. He's taller than Renjun, but that's not surprising. Renjun himself is just small, not just in height but in frame. It's not extreme, but he definitely fits under the smaller side of the male spectrum.

 

Jeno had wide shoulders, something Renjun envied. His own shoulders are narrow and it just adds to his small cute image. _Thanks Zitao._

 

Jeno's skin is lighter than Renjuns, which is a nice change.

 

They seem like opposites, the more Renjun thinks about it all. And not just in looks.

Renjun is more quiet and sassy when around his comrades, while Jeno seems very outgoing and smiles a lot.

 

But Jeno's handsome and his aura draws Renjun in. In the most annoying way possible.

 

“We have next hour together!”

 

Jenos sudden exclaim makes Renjun jerk out of his thoughts with wide eyes. The other seems to notice he spooked him and ducks his head and stutters out an apology.

“Ah! Sorry! I got a little excited…”

 

Renjun blinks and then smiles once he's processed what's said. _Cute_.

 

“No, no! You're fine...sorry I was lost in my thoughts…” Renjun smiles shyly as Jeno, who just grins back.

 

Suddenly there's a person on Jeno's back, knocking him forward and bumping into Renjun, who shrinks back. There's a flash of brown hair and tan skin that makes Renjun snort once his eyes focus on the conversation intruder.

 

Donghyuck is laughing that gross high pitched laugh, right in Jeno's ear, and pinching his cheek. Jeno, the champ he is, is frowning with a dark blush tinting his cheeks and leaning forward so Donghyuck doesn't fall.

 

“Aw! What's got you all flustered baby Lee?”

 

Renjun snorts again at the nickname and Jeno blushes more.

 

“I'm older that you! Get off me you little rat!”

 

Donghyuck cackles as he slides off of the taller. “Hey, the only rat is Chicago Rat!”

 

Jeno rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

“Whatever lets you sleep at night.”

 

Donghyuck pouts and sassily walks back to Mark, who's already started leaving the cafeteria.

 

Renjun notes that Jisung and Chenle are both gone already, and that Jaemin is shoving the last bit of his food in his mouth. Suddenly Renjun realizes he didn't eat lunch.

 

Renjun finds his gaze landing back on Jeno, who's picking up his bag and turning to face him with a smile. _Renjun is getting a bit whipped for that smile_

 

“Let's go!” Jeno says softly, before grabbing Renjuns wrist and tugging him out of the cafeteria.

 

_Very whipped_

  
  


Class with Jeno goes the same as class with Jaemin and Donghyuck, but add a little more awkwardness to both sides.

 

Renjun learns about Jeno, and a little about Mark. Jeno has lived in Cooperville his whole life, while Mark spent his first year in Canada. Jeno is allergic to cats, but loves them and wants them. And Jeno is apparently really fast, running wise.

 

Jeno let's Renjun talk about China and his old life. Talks about the food and late night laundry runs with his brother. Let's him babble about seeing idols on the streets and the daytime TV.

By the time class is over with Renjun has told Jeno the plot to at least three Chinese survival shows and Jeno has chewed into the end of his pencil.

 

They don't have another class together, but Jeno is kind enough to walk Renjun to his next one. They part with shy smiles.

  
  


**Memeholics Anonymous**

 

**Fullsun**

_ I wish u could have seen it ! !!! _

_ His face got so red LMAO _

 

**Marker**

_ Hyuckie! He was having an allergic reaction to the fucking nuts! _

 

**Fullsun**

_ I know right??? Omf XD _

 

**PrinceJaem**

_ Yes. Because me basically dying after eating a nut is so funny. Little shit.  _

 

**Fullsun**

**X'DDD**

 

**DolphinScreams**

_ It was serious at the time, but funny now … _

 

**SweatyJersey**

_ WHO THE HELL CHANGED MY NAME AGAIN  _

_ DONGHYUCK _

_ ILL KILL YOU _

 

**Fullsun**

_ Y DO U JUST ASSUME IT WAS ME?!?! _

_ IT WASNT ME THIS TIME  _

 

**SweatyJersey**

_ BULLCRAP  _

_ YOU ALWAYS DO IT  _

 

**Fullsun**

_ NOT THIS TIME  _

 

**G-Sung**

_ actually it was me _

 

**SweatyJersey**

_ WAHT Y _

 

**G-Sung**

_ You left your nasty stinky jersey at my house. _

_ DO YOU NOT WASH THAT THING??? _

 

**Fullsun**

_ ahahahahahaha _

 

**PrinceJaem**

_ I mean where's the lie  _

 

**SweatyJersey**

_ Dude...Jaemin...I thought we were buds… _

 

**PrinceJaem**

_ *Snorts*  _

 

**PureBoy**

_ Jersey for what? I'm confused… _

 

**Marker**

_ Football, like American football. _

_ Me and Jeno both play  _

_ And he never washes his jersey after games and practice.  _

 

**SweatyJersey**

_ I'm hurt and attacked  _

 

**PureBoy**

_ Oh _

_ That's unsanitary… _

_ Wash your clothes Jeno. _

 

**Fullsun**

_ AHAHAHAHAHA _

_ RENJUN JUST ATTACKED YOU  _

_ AHAHAH _

 

**PrinceJaem**

_ Omfg nice Renjun! _

 

**Marker**

_ Burn. _

 

**G-Sung**

Jesus

Renjun is savage …

 

**SweatyJersey**

:’((((

Renjun

You're so meannnnn 

 

**PureBoy**

:) 

 

**Fullsun**

_ I KNEW THERE WAS SOMTHING ABOUT RENJUN I LIKED  _

_ AHAHAH _

 

**Marker**

_ Jesus Duckie calm down _

_ It was funny but shit not that funny  _

  
  


Renjun had been on his phone since he left school, happily replying to the never ending flow of messages to that stupid group chat Donghyuck added him to. Most of the time it was just them roasting Donghyuck himself or them explaining things about Cooperville. 

 

It was nice, gave Renjun a bigger sense of normalcy. 

 

The stupid emojis Donghyuck used, the sassy remarks from Mark, the sweet compliments from Jeno. Renjun made friends.

 

Renjun laid on his bed, lights off except the burning candles in the window, cuddled up under his thick blankets and smiling at his phone. 

 

Honestly Renjun doesn't remember smiling this much, even in China. But that's a topic he doesn't want to bring up. 

 

The group had asked him, but he just told them that his brother wanted change, so here they are. But the truth’s more cold, more sad and upsetting, worrying. 

 

Maybe he'll tell them, later, when they've grown closer and they won't judge him. But until then, deflect. 

 

Rennun sighs as he sends a short  _ good night _ to the chat, a small smile curling his lips as he reads the others farewells and that they see him tomorrow. 

 

He sets his phone down on his nightstand, content and happy as he snuggles into his pillows. 

 

He falls asleep in a sweet dream filled sleep, smile not leaving how face until his face relaxes. 

 

_ Outside the dark forest groans, howls filling the air, and eyes watching the slowly rebuilding house. Watching. Waiting. _

 

 

 

 


	3. 03

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's nice, being here and getting away from in troubled thoughts at home. It's nice to forget about the ominous dreams and missing kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> Honestly I'm not sure what happened with this chapter, it's beyond rushed and I've very confused on why I wrote everything the way I did.   
> This story is going to be very fast paced, and honestly I'm writing as I go without a detailed plotline to go off of so literally everything you read is what I thought of as I'm typing. 
> 
> I also want to say that while I'm a witch/druid myself I find it extremely hard to describe how I go about my own beliefs and practices. Seems weird right? Not sure why I struggle with it so much but I do...  
> Another thing is that while Renjun is labeled more just a witch, he probably leans more towards Druidity than Wicca. Mainly cause I'm sort of self projecting . 
> 
> Oof anyways!   
> Hope you like this (rushed and bad) update!

_ The air feels different _ , _ cold and evil but different. _

_ It's strange, Renjun knows this is a dream now, but the fear remains. The unease, the terror, the pain. It all feels so real and demanding.  _

 

_ There's only silence as Renjun stands in a small clearing of the surrounding forest. This dream is really different from the others, he had control, consciousness. He's lucid.  _

 

_ For once he can turn and move on his own, his body's not in autopilot. It's not a movie this time around. But like before he doesn't feel the goddess or god, can't feel the earth pumping energies, can't feel his own chakra. _

 

_ Renjun looks down at himself, seeing himself in a slightly baggy white shirt, blue above the knee shorts and plain socks. He's never seen what he's worn but knows his legs are always scrapped by the thorns of plants and downed tree limbs and his feet are always covered with wet and muddy socks.  _

 

_ He looks up from his others, around the tree canopy and down to the dark black soil. Why can't he hear anything? It's unlike the normal quiet that happens when there's not surrounding noise, no this is in his own head. This silence is inside his ears, deaf. _

 

_ Renjun doesn't want to think too much about it, dreams only last so long, and who knows how long his amount of lucidness will last.  _

_ He looks off into the distance, surprising himself when he sees light. More specifically a porch light. A house light. _

 

_ Renjun takes a shaky breath and starts trudging forwards. He steps over limbs and branches, wincing when his legs are scrapped. His socks are wet and dirty, and makes Renjun cringe as he steps.  _

 

_ As he walks his eyes never leave the distant light, he feels like a moth ironically.  _

 

_ Slowly but steadily Renjuns hearing begins to muffle back, his weight snapping small twigs that lay on the ground and he can hear it now. It's like he's just under the surface of water, about to break it. He can hear his own breathing now, his heart beat that's beating just above normal.  _

 

_ The light is just outside the forest line now, and as Renjun gets closer his throat feels tight. He recognizes that window, those candles, those curtains. That's his house.  _

 

_ Rennun however doesn't get to question more, because he freezes. There's hot breath being puffed on his neck. He doesn't want to look around, so he focuses on his window and the air. It's foul smelling, like rotting flesh and mud.  _

 

_ Suddenly there's a voice, tone warning and malevolent as it pronounces each syllable.  _

_ What is spoken however scares him the most.  _

_ “ R e n j u n “ _

  
  
  


Unlike before, Renjun opens his eyes slowly and calmly. He doesn't feel good. His head hurts, he feels weak, his muscles ache and his bones feel like they're grinding as he tilts his head to the side to glance at the small desk clock on his nightstand. 

_ 8:48am _

 

He closes his eyes and groans softly. He's running late. Really late.

 

Renjun slowly forces himself to sit up, his bones protesting with loud popping sounds and creaks. His head is pounding and he brings his hands up to rub at his eyes, attempting to ease the pressure. 

 

His thought process is slow, his whole world is slow at the moment. 

 

Renjun turns his head to look at his phone, it's little notifications light is blinking in the top corner and he wants to groan again. He leans over, shoulders popping in protest, and grabs the stupid black device. Tapping his lock button and wincing as the screen blinds him and his eyes throb. 

 

One it passes however he smiles at his lockscreen, it's just a quick picture of Renjun, YangYang, XiaoJun, and Hendry on Renjuns last day in Hong Kong. Their happy smiles trying to mask the slight shine to everyone's eyes. 

 

It was a sad but happy day, sad because Renjun was leaving, but happy because they spent the whole time remembering their good memories and promising to keep in touch, something that had been hard for the first few weeks. But now Renjuns been in America for a month and had time to properly message them, though the time gap hurt them. 

 

Shaking his head Renjun looked at his notifications bar and rolled his eyes. 

  
  


**17 missed calls**

**376 new messages from Memeholics Anonymous**

**11 new messages**

 

_ Jesus guys… _

 

Renjun yawned as he glanced at the missed calls first, most being from Donghyuck with only one from Jaemin, and two from Zitao. Checking his texts next he snorted as again most were from Donghyuck, but ignored them and went straight to Zitaos. 

  
  


**Tao**

_ School got canceled today, stay inside the house until im back tonight _

_ There's food in the fridge so make sure you actually eat something. _

 

**Tao**

_ Call me if you need me _

 

Renjun frowned but moved on to the next group of texts. 

 

**Jaemin**

_ Did you hear about what happened? _

**Jaemin**

_ Renjun? _

**Jaemin**

_ Are you still asleep??? _

**Jaemin**

_ WAKE UP!!! _

**Jaemin**

_ Text me back when you wake up. _

 

Renjuns frown deepened as he moved on to Donghyucks texts.

 

**Donkey**

_ RENJUN _

**Donkey**

_ DID YOU HEAR _

**Donkey**

_ THEY CANCELLED SCHOOL BECUASE TWO KIDS WENT MISSING _

**Donkey**

_ RENJUN WAKE UP  _

 

 _What?_ _Someone's missing?_

 

Renjun set up and unplugged his phone from it's charger and moved on to opening the group chat. 

  
  


**Memeholics Anonymous**

 

**Marker**

_ Donghyuck you're so fucking loud  _

 

**Fullsun**

_ TMBUT MARK THIS IS CRZY _

_ CAN YOU IMAGINE WHT HAPPNED???? _

_ THIS IS THE FOURTH TIME THIS YESR  _

_ ISNT THAT FISHY???? _

 

**PrinceJaem**

_ Donghyuck I seriously doubt it's like that  _

  
  


**Fullsun**

_ BUT YOU DONT KNOW RIGHT _

_ IT S CREEPY  _

 

**Jen-oh**

_ I agree with them Hyuck _

_ I'm sure nothing like that is happening… _

 

**G-Sung**

_ I agree with Yucky guys  _

_ It's suspicious _

_ Like he said it's the fourth time someone's went missing  _

 

**_DolphinScreams_ **

_ Same with Sungie _

_ It's weird… _

 

**PureBoy**

_ What's going on?  _

_ I just woke up _

 

**Fullsun**

_ RENJUN SHIT DID YOU READ MY TEXTS  _

_ SOMEONE FROM SCHOOL WENT MISSING  _

 

**PrinceJaem**

JESUS RENJUN IVE BEEN TRYING TO TEXT AND CAL YOU ALL MORNING

 

**PureBoy**

_ Jeamin I literally just woke up _

 

**PrinceJaem**

_ >:( _

 

**Marker**

_ Jesus Renjun calm them down  _

 

**DolphinScreams**

_ GOOD MORNING RENJUN - GE!!! _

_ :)))) _

 

**G-Sung**

_ Wish I got that type of a greeting in the mornings… _

 

**Jen-oh**

_ Good morning Renjun! _

 

**PureBoy**

_ Morning everyone _

_ Now can someone tell me what's really going on??? _

 

**Jen-oh**

_ I will. _

_ Apparently someone from our school went missing the other day so they canceled today for some reason _

 

**PureBoy**

_ That doesn't make much sense? _

 

**Marker**

_ It's happened before  _

 

**Fullsun**

_ GUYS WHY DONT YOU ALL COME OVER TO MARK AND JENOS HOUEE TO HANG IUT  _

_ WE XAN TALK ABIJT IT  _

_ I MISS YIU GYS _

 

**Marker**

Wtf Donghyuck! Why'd you say my house!?

 

**Fullsun**

_ Yours is the biggest obvi! _

 

**G-Sung**

_ That's what she said… _

 

**DolphinScreams**

_ Snorts _

 

**PrinceJaem**

_ WHATSMBDKW YOURE BOTH LIKE 2 YEARS OLD?!?! _

 

**G-Sung**

_ IM 16 WTF JAEMIN _

 

**Jen-oh**

_ All I hear is googoo gaga _

_ Any ways so ours? _

 

**PrinceJaem**

_ Sounds good!  _

_ Be over in like twenty _

 

**Fullsun**

_ Alresdy amsOMW _

 

**Marker**

_ I didn't agree to this! _

 

**Jen-oh**

_ Oh like you rule the house¿ _

_ Taeyong loves the guys coming over  _

_ Renjun you coming? _

 

**PureBoy**

_ Um my brother said not to leave the house and he's a work so I cant have him bring me _

 

**Jen-oh**

_ Come'on!!! _

_ I can pick you up! _

_ Please _

 

**PureBoy**

_...fine! _

 

**Fullsun**

_ Aha gay! _

  
  


Renjun rolled his eyes as he tosses his phone down onto his bed and lets out a sighs as he stretches his arms above his head. The heaviness to his limbs has faded and his headache is minimized to a dull pulse. The earlier dread and slow is gone and thankfully he can move without pain. 

 

He frowns as he slowly thinks of his dream and how he woke up. 

 

The dream felt so real, just like they always do, but this one felt different. It felt like backwards deja Vu, like it was going to happen rather than already happened. It didn't make sense to him either. 

 

The voice, that unsettling and evil voice. Renjun could still hear it in his head, still feel the puffs on his skin, smell the rot of it's breath. He took a shaky breath and shook his head. He'd tell Tao once he got home.

 

Renjun sighed and stepped out of bed, feet hitting the cold floor and making him hiss.

Suddenly he curse as he remembered Jeno was on the way. 

 

Renjun did his morning routine quickly, and dressing in a simple baggy soft blue sweater and black jeans. Nothing too flashy, but that made him look cute. 

  
  


Renjun had been in Cooperville for at least a month now, and with that came being closer to the group. He'd grown close to them all fast, Jaemin and Donghyuck though he grew extremely close to. While he adored the others, Chenle and Jisung felt like little brothers, Mark scared him a little but he knew he could trust him, and Jeno was...Jeno, Donghyuck and Jaemin gave him the most warmth. 

 

Jeno and Renjun however had also gotten close, messaging outside the group chat and Jeno still walked Renjun to and from their shared class. Maybe it was all in Renjuns head but he swore Jeno flirted sometimes.

 

But now here we are, Renjun staring at himself in his bathroom mirror with sweaty palms and a dry throat. 

 

It seemed to just set in that he was getting picked up by Jeno, in Jeno's car, to go to Jeno's house, where Jeno lived. 

Call him stupid all you'd like but it was inevitable for him to start crushing on Jeno. 

 

Jeno is always so kind and caring to Renjun, it hurt. He walked him to class, made sure he had lunch, helped him with English, helped him with homework... _ helped him reach books he needed sometimes _ .

 

Jeno was handsome and gentlemen like and Renjun is weak. 

So yes, he's nervous and shy. 

 

But Renjun is brave enough to take a shaky breath, grab his bag, and make his way downstairs to wait. 

It doesn't take long before Renjun hears the rumble of an engine outside and a soft  _ ping _ from his phone not a moment later. Renjun quickly runs to the living room window and pulls back the curtain to peak. 

 

Jenos sitting behind the steering wheel of a large old and rusted black truck, it honestly doesn't suit his soft personality Renjun decides. 

 

Renjun drops the curtain and runs to the door, double checking his pockets and steps outside, locking the door as he closes it. He hastily walks to the slightly intimidating vehicle and the door pops open for him with a groan. Renjun smiles when he notices Jeno trying to sit back up from when he reached over to open the door,  _ like a gentleman _ , and climbs in with slight struggle. 

 

Once Renjun is settled he looks to Jeno with a small smile. 

“Good morning…”

 

Jeno sends his own smile back, eyes turning to sweet crescent moons as he does.

“Good morning Junnie!”

 

Renjun feels warm at the little nickname,  _ why does it sound different coming from him _ .

 

Jeno pulls the truck out of Renjuns driveway and begins the drive to his own house. Renjun takes the time to side eye Jeno like the creep he is inside.

 

Jeno isn't wearing anything upstaging or flashy but instead a plain black short sleeved shirt and black jeans. Renjun finds it a bit annoying that Jeno seems so unaffected by the cold late September weather, when he himself has an extra long sleeve under his sweater but his fingers still tingle. 

But despite the bad clothing choice Jeno looks good,  _ he looks good in anything… _

  
  


The drive itself is short, Jenos house is a lot like Renjuns in the sense that it's right on the edge of town, right on the edge of the forest. When they pull up to a large, larger than Renjuns, dark brown painted house Renjun immediately feels a buzz in his head. 

 

It's like when he first met Mark, and then Jeno. It's a small buzz, like a soft warning. It isn't aggressive or telling him to run or spell cast, it like it's telling him to just be easy, be cautious. It doesn't alarm him in a the way it probably should. But he pushes the dumb buzz aside and moves to step out of the truck. 

 

The outside is fairly typical when it comes to small towns in the woods, there's plants lining the porch, deer antlers and heads on the walls, and random junk lying around. 

 

It's funny how rugged and  _ manly _ it all is, but remembering how Mark teared up when Donghyuck wouldn't speak to him for a day and that Jeno  _ coo _ s when he sees cats ruins the image for Renjun. 

 

Renjun notes that there's a handful of vehicles parked on the other side of Jenos truck, and he hears Jeno mumbling about someone named  _ Lucas _ and curses following. He snorts as he sees Jeno walking up to him with a pout on his lips as he glares at a large silver Jeep parked beside his truck. 

 

Faintly Renjun can hear loud voices, all from inside and gulps when he can tell it's over five. Subconsciously Renjun knew there would be more people but the reality of it makes him nervous. Nervous enough that he doesn't notice when Jeno places his hand on the small of his back to push him forward to the house. 

 

The porch creaks under their weight and Renjun can hear the inside voices cackling and a TV blashing. Jeno opens the door for Renjun with a smile. 

 

Inside is an open living room with people packed in it, it's darkly colored with hunting memorabilia along the walls, pictures of families and random knick knacks line the shelves. The group of boys consist of Donghyuck, Mark, and a boy he doesn't know sitting on the couch facing the door, there's another unknown guy sitting at #1 unknown guys feet on the floor. Jisung, Chenle and Jaemin are sitting on the couch facing away from the door, and Renjun only knows it's them because of their hair. There's another unknown man standing in the archway of what Renjun assumes is the kitchen if the clanking of pans and pots are any hint. 

 

Donghyuck suddenly screeches and draws Renjuns attention to him with wide eyes, subconsciously stepping back into Jeno, who just calmly grips his shoulders and chuckles.

There's a flash of brown and red and suddenly Renjun is being squeezed hard enough that he lets out a soft high pitched wheeze like a balloon. Donghyuck is screeching in his ear and Renjun goes to move his head back only to slam it into Jenos jaw. 

 

Jeno groans and steps back, leaving Renjun without support and now stumbles backwards with the weight of Donghyuck on him, they hit the floor with a painful yelp from Renjun. Donghyuck is oblivious to the pains he just caused. 

 

“RENJUNNIE! I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!” Donghyuck rubs his cheek against Renjuns like a cat. Renjun whines in pain and annoyance.

 

Thankfully Mark has taken pity on them and picks Donghyuck up off Renjun with a loud grunt. One of the boys let's out a strangled cackle.

“Ha! Donghyuck, looks like you should lay off the ding dongs man!” there's the sound of skin slapping skin and a pained yelp.

 

“LUCAS WONG!”

 

“Ow! Woo! Why'd you hit me for?!”

 

Renjun barely heard the reply of  _ you idiot _ because he's busy standing up and worryingly looking at Jeno's red marked jaw. “ _ Oh my God! Are you okay Jeno? Did I hurt you? Oh god what if it bruises?! Jeno I'm so sorry! Donghyuck just, he yelled and it hurt my ears so I tried to p-pull away, ah please be okay!”  _

 

Jeno has a large grin on his face and he has to grab onto Renjuns wrists to make sure he doesn't accidentally get smacked by his flailing hands. Renjun pauses and and looks at Jeno with wide concerned eyes. 

“Renjun.”

 

“ _ What?” _

 

“Renjun I can't understand you..”

 

“ _ What? Why! Oh my God did you hit your head? You have a concussion don't you?! Oh god what have I done!”  _ Suddenly he flips around in Jeno's hold and glares at Donghyuck, who is staring back with wide eyes. “ _ This is all your fault! If you hadn't screamed I wouldn't have knocked back into him! I blame you! If he dies it's your fault! He's gonna hate me! Oh my God Donghyuck you fucking donkey! Im-” _

Renjun is cut off by a hand over his mouth and an arm around his waist. 

 

Renjun blinks and blushes as he notices everyone staring at him with wide eyes. Donghyuck looks confused and offended, Mark has a brow raised, Jaemin is staring with his mouth gaping, Jisung is slowly blinking, and Chenle looks ready to bust his ass off laughing. The three other men are watching Renjun with the same wide eyes, until the one sitting on the couch starts laughing hard enough to make Renjun worry. 

 

Slowly Chenle is next to start laughing followed by everyone else, much to Renjuns dismay. 

 

“ _ Renjun-ge called Donghyuck-ge a donkey! Oh god my side!” _ Chenle cackles, the guy from earlier joining in on the verbal teasing.

 

“ _ Donkey-Hyuck! I'm gonna cry! This is by far the best introduction ever! _ ” suddenly he's on the floor still laughing that extremely loud laugh he has.

 

Renjun blushes pure scarlet and babbles back to the two hyenas after Jeno took his hand off his mouth. “ _ DONT LAUGH AT THAT YOU LITTLE SHITS! Oh god that's so embarrassing!”  _  He turns to Donghyuck and tries to look apologetic “ _ Im sorry Hyuck, I don't know why I called you a donkey...and I shouldn't have yelled”  _

 

Once the words come out of his mouth the two boys laughing seem to laugh harder. Chenle is grabbing jisings shoulder with enough force to cause him to whine and try to pry the grip off while the guy that Renjun thinks name is Lucas is on the floor, long limbs flailing about and smacking the boy in the floor, much to his annoyance. Renjun frowns and looks around the room at their confused faces.

 

“ _ What'd I say?”  _

 

The man standing by the archway speaks up first with a smile on his lips. 

“Renjun, can you speak English so the rest of us can understand what you're saying?”

 

Renjun shrinks into himself and covers his face with his hands in embarrassment. Not once did he realize he was speaking Mandarin and not English. But just before he can get too deep he remembers Chenle and the Lucas guy replying to him and knowing what he said and yelps and shouts at them in Mandarin on purpose this time. 

“ _ DON'T YOU DARE SAY ANYTHING!” _

 

Chenle seems to sober up enough to make an  _ ok _ gesture with his hand, and the Lucas guy is just starting at Renjun with a smirk on his lips. 

 

Donghyuck however isn't having it.

“Wait, what did you say about me?” 

 

The group looks to Donghyuck, who's sitting with a pout and puppy eyes directed at Renjun. Renjun shakes his head though and blushes slightly, but otherwise ignores him. This just causes Donghyuck to whine more.

 

“You guys said my name like ten times! WHAT'D YOU SAY?!” 

 

A snort. 

 

Renjuns eyes widen and he looks at Chenle with pleading eyes. 

 

“He called you a Donkey!” 

 

“ _ CHENLE!!” _

**“WHAT?!”**

  
  
  
  


After the horrible first meeting ended with Donghyuck fake crying and Renjun wanting to strangle Chenle everyone settled in the living room and started discussing why they were there to begin with. 

 

Donghyuck and Mark had settled back on the couch next to Lucas, who apparently was also from China this explained him knowing what Renjun had said, and Lucas's boyfriend Jungwoo, who sat on the floor resting his head on Lucas's knee. Jaemin, Jisung and Chenle are still seated on the other couch, and Jaehyun, archway guy, has taken off to the kitchen to help Jeno and Mark's  _ older  _ brother Taeyong, who he has yet to meet, while Jeno and Renjun have settled to sit in the floor between the two couches. 

 

Renjun notices that Lucas does most of the talking amongst them all, surprising Renjun because he even talks over Donghyuck. Jungwoo hasn't said a word other than a very softly spoken  _ hello _ to Renjun when they got introduced, Renjun notes that Jungwoo seems very airy, like he doesn't care about what's around him and he's in his own little world.  It's surprising that they're a couple, they seem so different that it shouldn't work. 

Lucas's aura is hot and chaotic, it annoys Renjun, agitates him a bit. While Jungwoos is very calming, much like Jaemin and Donghyuk. 

 

It's a bit strange that Renjun is only just meeting them, because apparently Lucas is only a few months older than Mark. And when Renjun asked about why he doesn't go to their school Lucas just shrugs and says “Homeschooled” with the least amount of enthusiasm you can have. 

Lucas eventually explains, in broken mostly English with a few Mandarin words thrown in, that him and Jungwoo live in a town over, but that they spend most of their time in Cooperville at either Taeyongs or a guys named Johnnys house.  

 

But Donghyuck is sick of hearing things he already knows. 

 

“Guy?! Hello! We came here for a reason!” His voice screeches.

 

The group all collectively groan in annoyance and Renjun swears he sees Mark point a finger gun to his head.

 

Donghyuck is bouncing in his seat with a beaming smile. 

“So someone went missing!” 

 

Renjun rolls his eyes and tilts his head to the side in an attempt to look annoyed, but only knocks his head onto Jenos shoulder. He quickly rights himself and blushes when Jeno chuckles beside him.

Jaemin is suddenly speaking and draws attention to himself. 

“Does anyone even know who it was yet?”

 

Sadly everyone is silent, but this doesn't deter Jaemin as he turns to Jisung. 

“Isn't your dad the Sheriff?” 

 

Jisung nods with a frown.

“Yeah, but he never tells us anything. Says it's confidential, but I might be able to sneak into his office and look…” 

 

Jaemin smiles and pats Jisung on the head, who whines and leans away from the touch the best he can. Jaemin claps his hands together, making a few people startle, and sends the group a smile. 

“Well! Sung will snoop in his dad's junk for us! Until then we won't know much.” 

The group make noises of agreement 

  
  


After their brief conversation, the boys are all either staring at the TV that's been playing some very old sci-fi film or talking quietly amongst themselves. 

Renjun sits, still next to Jeno on the ground, and watches the people around him. Lucas is trying to get Jungwoos attention, but the poor airy boy is busy watching the large screen with wide and curious eyes. Donghyuck and Mark are talking quietly to one another, a weird sight seeing Donghyuck speak so quietly. Chenle and Jisung are much like Jungwoo, while Jaemin is busy on his phone. 

 

Renjun turns his gaze to Jeno, a hard task considering how close they're sitting together. Jeno has his eyes locked on the TV as well, but his eyes aren't focused on what's happening like the others. 

Renjun never noticed the color of Jenos eyes, how while they're brown there's small golden and red shards spiking towards his pupils. They're a bit hypnotic, so maybe that's the reason he doesn't notice Jeno's switched his gaze from the TV to him. Doesn't notice the small twitch of Jenos lips, or the soft look those pretty eyes have directed at himself. However he does notice Donghyucks screech about food. 

 

Renjun jerks his eyes away from Jeno with a red ears once he's realized what he's done to see Donghyuck literally climbing over Mark and Lucas, who are both trying to scramble up as well, to get off the couch and to the kitchen. Chenle is also screeching, pushing Jisung back onto the couch in his hast to beat Donghyuck, and Jaemin is watching it all happen with an amused look. 

Renjun feels Jeno stand up next to him and he turns to see Jeno extending a hand for him with a smile. Renjun awkwardly takes it, trying not to think too much about how much bigger Jeno's hand is compared to his own, and let's out the most manly squeak he can as Jeno literally  _ yanks _ him off the ground. Renjun stumbles and finds himself heavily leaning on Jeno for support for a moment, before he's hastily pulling away with his head down and a darker blush on his cheeks. 

  
  


The kitchen turns out to be a kitchen-dining area much like at his own house. It's decorated like the front room, and the table itself is long and a beautiful deep mahogany with around eight chairs pushed under it, that are mostly taken already. There's enough food to feed a small army Renjun decides. It ranges from a large pretty roasted chicken and vegetables to creamy looking mashed potatoes and pecan pie. And honestly Renjun thinks the smell of it is filling up his stomach by itself. 

Renjun blinks as he feels Jeno place a tentative touch on his hip and guides him to sit in one of the empty chairs, then places himself in the next chair, flicking Jisung next to him in the back of the head as he does. Renjun watches as Lucas drags a few extra chairs to the table for the stragglers, like himself and Jungwoo and a huffy looking Mark. 

 

There's a man sitting down to his left he hasn't met, and Renjun suddenly realizes how he's surrounded by very attractive people, and he's very getting annoyed at that fact. 

 

The man turns, dark intimidating eyes turning to wide and cute puppy eyes as he looks at Renjun with a sweet smile overtaking his lips. His voice spooks Renjun a little, it's deep, almost as deep as Lucas's, and slightly accented. 

 

“Hello! I'm Taeyong, Jeno and Mark's older brother. You're Renjun right?”

Renjun can't speak, so he only nods dumbly and feels anxiety in his chest for the first time that day.

 

It's a bit weird, he had been fine with Jungwoo, Lucas and Jaehyun, but now that he's meeting Jeno and Mark's brother he seems more nervous and anxious to make a good impression. Not only does he want to impress him, but Taeyong's aura is almost suffocating with authority. It's something that he's only experienced once before, the time he met Zitaos friend Yifan back in China. He had that same authoritative aura and mood, but then again Yifan had scared the hell out of little 11 year old Renjun when he was just trying to hand the kid his backpack. Later Renjun would learn to love Yifan like a brother because he started hanging around more and more. 

 

Taeyong in the end is extremely sweet and motherly, Renjun and him speak softly to one another after the initial awkwardness fades. Taeyong talks about how he basically raised his two brothers and is more of a parent than anything, and it reminds Renjun of himself and Zitao. He wonders why their parents aren't around but doesn't ask, because while it's not a sensitive topic for Renjun himself, he sees how it could be for Taeyong. 

Taeyong shares cute and embarrassing stories of Jeno, earning him a very red younger brother and a very loud laugh from Renjun. Renjun can only laugh so much harder as he hears about Jeno sleeping with a rubber ducky until he was 12, that when he finds out that Jeno once took his pants off in kindergarten for show and tell his sides hurt and he's inhaled his spit twice. Jeno beside him is a blushing pouting mess and angrily stabs his fork into the chicken on his plate.

  
  


After the group of boys have finished off all of the food, astonishing Renjun as he watches Jeno and Lucas single handedly shove four full plates into their mouths, the sun has fallen and they slowly part ways. 

Lucas, Jeno, Jaehyun and Mark have headed outside to start do something Lucas called  _ manly things  _ with Taeyong tagging along to watch over them. Jaemin has already left to take Chenle and Jisung home, and Donghyuck is asleep on the couch in a very uncomfortable looking position. Leaving only Renjun and Jungwoo alone to gather their things. 

 

Jungwoo is the first to speak of the two, breaking they're awkward silence that comes with two normally quiet people. 

“What did you think of the boys?” 

 

Jungwoos voice amuses Renjun, as its so soft and sweet sounding that Renjun finds himself slightly envious regardless of his own voice being also soft. It carries a calmness to it that soothes Renjuns core. 

However this isn't the time to admire a mere way of talking so Renjun actually gives him a response. 

 

“Lucas, Jaehyun and Taeyong?”

Jungwoo nods with a small smile, little bunny teeth peeking out from under his top lip.Renjun can't help but smile back.

“Yeah, they're cool.” He laughs softly “Lucas is a bit loud though…no offense…”

 

Jungwoo laughs at that, sweet and heavenly it sounds. “Ah~ yeah, Yukhei is a hand full, but I love him so I put up with it.” 

 

Renjun raises a brow at the sudden name change, but Jungwoo seems to realize his “slip” and laughs again. “Sorry, I call him by his real name.” 

Renjun nods but still remains confused. 

“Lucas isn't his real name?”

Jungwoo shakes his head, small smile still on his lips as he looks out the front window to the group of boys, the tall and clumsy one in specific. “No, well not really? He's gone by it for years, but I've always known him as Yukhei so I've never been able to call him anything else…” 

 

Renjun smiles a little at the new knowledge. “You guys have been together for a while, huh?”

 

Jungwoo nods and turns back to Renjun, a slight blush to his pale cheeks as he speaks. “Yes...we met as kids, when Yukhe- I mean Lucas moved from China, and we're neighbors. Went to the same school, and we started dating my freshmen year of high school and have been together since...so that's um five years now I think?” 

 

Renjun nods and feels his heart warm at the short story. He turns to looks outside, watching as Lucas and Jeno wrestle each other, poor Jeno is headlocked under Lucas's arms, with a soft look as he watches Jeno. 

 

Renjun knows Jeno most likely doesn't share his developing feeling but he can only hope and dream that maybe they'll have a sweet story like Jungwoo and Lucas. It's a bit selfish, but Renjun doesn't want to share a future with anyone besides Jeno, strange considering just a month ago Renjun had never even thought of crushes and firsts, but suddenly there's this handsome boy who's just barely younger than him who has a vice grip on his heart. He looks at Jungwoo, sees the absolute adoration as the older gazes at the tall, loud and lanky kid on the ground with Jeno standing over him in victory, the absolute love. So what if it gives him a little hope, let him dream please.

 

Jungwoo and Renjun however don't speak more, and walk outside to the group of boys, who are still going at it at wrestling, now Jaehyun verses Mark, poor Mark. 

Lucas bounds to Jungwoo, smile beaming and wraps his arms around the shorters thin waist and picks him up in a hug, Jungwoo letting out a surprised shriek as he does. Renjun snorts as he meets Jungwoos startled but playfully rolling eyes.  _ Pure love. _

 

Renjun startles as he feel a sudden warmth on his side and an arm around his shoulders. Jeno is watching the scene with a small sad smile and Renjun thinks sad isn't a good look. 

Jeno thankfully turns his gaze down to Renjun and speaks softly so the others don't hear. 

“Have fun?”

 

Renjun smiles and nods, making Jeno himself smile and subconsciously copy his movements. “Good, I'm glad…” 

_It's nice, being here and getting away from in troubled thoughts at home. It's nice to forget about the ominous dreams and missing kids._

 

There's another shriek from Jungwoo, and the two boys turn to see Lucas adjusting Jungwoo over his shoulder with a prideful gleam in his eyes. “Alright kiddies we're off!” 

 

“Me, Yong and Jungwoo are older than you you shit!” Jaehyun sputters as Lucas marches to the silver Jeep. 

Renjun meets Jungwoos eyes and waves as Jungwoo sends him a smile and waves awell.

“Bye Renjun! It was nice meeting you!” 

Renjun feels himself smile and nods. “Same to you!”

 

With Jungwoo and Lucas gone only Taeyong, Jaehyun, Jeno and Renjun are left outside, as Mark went inside to check on Donghyuck. While the others are talking about things going on in the town Renjuns phone makes a loud  _ ping _ noise that startles him. Renjun pulls his phone from his pocket, the brightness again blinding him as he hits his lock button and sees a text from Zitao. 

 

**Tao**

_ Where are you?!? _

 

Renjun curses, noting how Zitaos text wasn't even English and sends a reply fast, saying he's with his friends and that he'll leave as soon as possible. He doesn't wait for a reply as he shoves his phone in his pocket. 

Jeno is looking at Renjun with a frown. “Everything okay?”

 

Renjun shakes his head and frowns himself. “Tao just texted me asking where I was, I guess I forget to text him when you picked me up...I gotta go home.” 

 

Jeno looks disappointed but shrugs. “Oh, okay. That's fine, I'll take you home!” 

Renjun sighs in relief, even if he subconsciously knew Jeno would. 

“Really? Thank you!” 

 

Jeno turns to his brother and Jaehyun and informs them of the situation, earning Renjun a snort from Jaehyun and a yearning to lecture Taeyong. They bid each other farewells, Taeyong hugging Renjun enough to hurt, and Jaehyun patting his shoulder. 

  
  


The drive back is just as quiet as the drive earlier. Just the purring motor and radio background to fill the chilly night air. 

Renjun had snagged Jeno's hoodie from behind the bench seat of his truck before they left as the cold September air hit him full force even with the heat on, yet Jeno remained unaffected still. 

Once they pulled into Renjuns drive way does the silence between them break. 

 

“I'm glad you had a good time today…” Jeno sounds unsure and nervous, and it makes Renjun want to  _ coo _ .

 

Renjun smiles shyly and nods.

“It was awesome…um thank you for picking me up and dropping me off by the way…” 

 

Jeno shakes his head and shifts awkwardly behind the wheel. “No problem…” a pause “hey Junnie?” 

 

Renjun turns to Jeno with wide eyes. “Hm?” 

 

Jeno seems more nervous.

 

It's annoying how even at night Jeno looks beautiful. Now that the blue moon light is casting deep shadows on his face it just accents his carved cheeks and jaw. 

 

Jeno is stumbling over his words and not finishing thoughts but Renjun still finds him endearing. 

“Do you...um maybe...would you like..um…”

 

Renjun raises a brow. “What is it Jeno?”

 

Renjun watches as Jeno takes a deep breath, watches as his chest expands with oxygen, watches as his lips form words. 

 

“Would you like to go to the movies with me sometime…?” 

 

There's a silence as Renjun blinks, trying to process what had just been said. But Jeno seems to take this negatively.

 

“Um you know what never mind..this was st-”

“Yes.”

 

Jeno stops babbling and stares at Renjun with wide eyes. “W-What?”

 

Renjuns lip twitches up and his cheeks darker. “I'd love to go see a movie with you…” 

 

Jeno is a bit shocked as he nods as Renjun pops the door open and slides out of the truck. 

Renjun stumbles away from the still rumbling truck with a smile on his lips, and when he hears Jeno shout from behind him he laughs.

“I'll text you!” 

“You better!” 

  
  


Once inside Renjun leans against the front door biting his lip hard to try an avoid screaming. He faintly hears Jeno's truck motor fade in the distance, and his hearts beating fast enough to scare him. 

_ Maybe he deserves a little hope _

 

In the end Zitao chews him out for leaving and then hugs him hard. And when Renjun is getting ready for bed he can't keep the smile off his face no matter what, it's almost annoying. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_ Late into the night however someone stares out his window, watching the shadows creep along the forest edge as he breaks up bits of aconite into a mixing bowl. He watches as bleeding red eyes dance around and listens to the dreaded howls. Feels the air thicken and smells the rot and evil coming in waves.  _

 

_ Unease fills his stomach as he locks eyes with red for a split moment. They're running out of time. _


	4. 04

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Small Town Diners and Blood Magick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was almost impossible for me to start for some reason?  
> Everything I wrote I hated, and I'll be honest I hate this chapter. It feels rushed and like it doesn't belong here but it does? It's a heavy filler chapter, and the drama starts next chapter, so maybe I won't have as much problems then? 
> 
> Uhg uhg 
> 
> Also it's beyond hard for me to describe the spell scene? I want to say that magick in this universe is much more fantasy than in real life. Strong enough witches can do physical manipulation of objects, like picking them up telekineticly.   
> If you ever seen the movie The Craft, it's much like how they treat magick.   
> Most spells are however true spells, either from myself or my friend who is also Wiccan/druid, so keep that in mind. 
> 
> Oof this is gross 
> 
> Hope you enjoy it even though it's horrible...  
> Sorry guys!

_ The forest is brighter, the air smells like normal soil, the dark aura lifted. Beams of light leak through the trees and the grass is growing green. There's bugs and animals tracking about, and it's the most tranquil he has felt since moving.  _

_ Renjun is sat in a small clearing of trees, just like how every dream has started. If he looks up tonight he can see glimpses of blue skies and around the ground little wild flowers of white and pink spring from the soil. It's beyond calming and sweet.  _

 

_ There's a soft crunch of twigs and limbs being broken, and Renjun turns with nervous and wide eyes. His breath catches in his throat.  _

_ A large wolf stands tentatively a good fifteen feet away. It's head down submissive and shy.  _

_ He should be scared, but he's not. He should be running, but he only feels like petting the soft dark brown and cream fur. _

 

_ Renjun barely breathes as the large animal takes slow steps closer, and with every step it crouches closer to the ground, as if to look less and less intimidating. He feels his heart beat in his throat as the wolf finally settles not but a foot away from Renjuns spot on the dirt.  _

_ Renjun can't help but stare into the animals large golden brown eyes, eyes that seem familiar and kind, eyes that bring joy and contentment. Renjun doesn't feel scared or worried anymore, just a calm curiosity now.  _

_ The large wolf let's out a soft whine as it stares at Renjun, and Renjun doesn't know what takes over him because suddenly his hand is lifting to move closer to the animal.   _

_ There's another soft whine as Renjuns hand is centimeters away from it's furry head. _

 

**RENJUN**

 

Startled awake, Renjuns eyes dart around as he stares up at his creamy white ceiling. The wolf gone and with it comes annoying brothers. Renjun turns his head to see Zitaos grinning face and dark circled eyes staring at him with an amused look. 

 

“Aren't you meeting with your friends today at 9?”

 

Renjun frowns but sends a nod in a  _ yes _ . Zitao sends a pointed glance at Renjuns clock. Renjun moves to the object and his eyes widen and he lets out a pitiful whine.

 

_ 8:53am _

 

“Shit!” 

  
  
  


After  _ literally _ running around his house to dress himself and making sure Zitao didn't leave him behind, Renjun is left panting at the entrance of the towns small family owned diner called The Blue Spruce. 

It's a little dingy, the dishes should be washed more, and the food tends to come cold but the waiter, a man on the shorter side with a pretty face and droopy eyes, sends him such a warm smile that Renjun feels himself return it as he walks in. 

Renjun is about to speak, and ask if he's friends are there, but is interrupted by a loud clank of plates and a high pitched scream-laugh that makes his eyes ring. Renjun looks and sees his friends crammed into a round booth laughing over how Jeno seemed to have spilled his coffee on his plate, making it a mess of uneatable mush. He turns back to the waiter and mouths the word  _ sorry _ , but he just smiles and rolls his eyes and waves Renjun off. 

As Renjun makes his way to the loud table Donghyuck sees him and screeches. 

 

“Renjun! Took you long enough!” 

 

Renjun rolls his eyes and notes that the only seat open is next to Jeno, so he plops down, trying to leave enough space for them both, with a shy glance at the other, who meets his gaze with his own shy look. 

“Sorry guys...slept in…” he mumbles sheepishly.

“You're fine, Jisung just got here not even two minutes ago” Jaemin explains with a smile at Renjun, but earns a whine from Jisung. 

As the group turn their attention to their youngest the waiter from before stands beside Renjun, and speaks softly to him.

 

“Sweetie, would you like anything to eat? Drink?” His voice is sweet and higher pitched, with an accented tilt to his words. 

 

Renjun turns and smiles back, glancing at the big chalkboard menu above the counter.  “Um... just eggs and toast and a cup of coffee please!” 

 

The man nods and quickly write down the small order and scurries off, Renjun turns back to the group to see them staring at him. “What?”

 

Donghyuck speaks up, a mischievous glint in his eyes and a smirk on his lips. “Flirting with Baekhyun are we?” 

 

Renjun blinks and furrows his brows “who?”

 

“Baekhyun, the waiter.” 

 

Renjun scoffs

“I was flirting by saying I wanted food? You people flirt strangely here in the states…”

 

The group share a laugh at Donghyucks expense, and subconsciously Renjun can feel and hear Jeno chuckle beside him and he can feel his chest warm at the sound. Donghyuck has a disgusted face as he looks around the group, eyes falling finally on Mark where he frowns and looks offended.

Mark notices and raises an eyebrow. “What? It was funny…” 

Donghyuck huffs but says nothing as he crosses his arms over his chest and turns the other way, pointedly ignoring is boyfriend.

Renjun watches and rolls his eyes.

 

The group settles as the waiter, Baekhyun, brings out Renjuns plate and drink with a smile. Before he leaves however he looks at Mark with his hands on his hips and a pointed look. 

“Mark Lee.” 

Marks eyes widen and he straightens in his seat. “Y-Yeah?”

“The next time you think that sending Yeol home covered in mud after one of your dumb wrestling matches again, I swear to god!”

Mark keep his head down and whines like a dog. 

 

Jeno however snorts “How bad was it?” 

Baekhyun turns his attention to Jeno, and let's out a sigh. 

“My God, I've never seen so much dirt...it was in his ears, his hair, it was even in his teeth...like did you guys make him eat it? Spent an hour in the bathroom washing just his hair!” 

 

Jeno cringes and looks a little apologetic.

“Oops...sorry Baekhyun…”

Baekhyun sighs and nods, but as his name is called from the kitchen he takes a deep breath. “Enjoy your meal guys, it was nice to meet you Renjun” 

 

As Baekhyun walks away Renjun frowns, because never once did Renjun say his name and they never really got introduced…

But before Renjun can think much of it all Jaemin is speaking up and dragging everyone's attention to himself.

 

“So Jisung” Jisung looks up from his plate of pancakes with a full mouth and wide eyes “did you find anything in your dad's office?”

Jisung nods wildly, and tries to swallow his food in one try, effectively choking himself up. Chenle pats his back hard and rolls his eyes. 

 

“Jesus Jisung don't inhale your food man…” Jeno pipes up, a disgusted look on his face as he watches the younger . Jisung just flips him off mid cough.

 

Once he clears his throat, Jisung looks up to the group. “So while I was digging I found some police reports from five days ago, you guys remember Sehun and Kai?” 

 

“Suhos boys?” Donghyuck questions, more serious than Renjun has seen him.

 

“Yeah, well they were both reported missing” 

 

The boys all still upon the news, and Renjun can only assume they knew them. He watches as Donghyucks face pales and Jaemin bites at his nails, and he feels Jeno take a sudden shutter breath next to him. Mark is the first to speak up, voice shaky and shocked. 

“Shit...are you serious?” 

 

Jisung nods sullenly. 

 

“Do you think Suho knows? If any of them knows?” Chenle asks, tone soft and sad. 

 

“They know, Chanyeol talked to Taeyong last night. Mentioned something about two of their guys missing, but I didn't hear who…”  Mark mumbles 

 

“Oh god...poor Baekhyun..right after Luhan too...” Donghyuck says sadly, sending a look to said person. 

 

Renjun follows his gaze to see Baekhyun standing in front of a much taller and we'll built man, wrapped up in a tight hug. The taller man is rubbing Baekhyun's back and speaking close to his ear, whatever he says makes Baekhyun nod and slowly detach himself from the giant, who looks up and lands his eyes on the boys table. He leans down and Renjun watches as he presses what looked like a kiss to Baekhyun's head before walking back into what Renjun assumed was the kitchen.

 

“...what's their relationship?” Renjun asks, almost to himself but Jeno seems to hear just fine and answers. 

 

“It's a bit of a long story but, Chanyeol, the tall guy, and Baekhyun, the shorter obviously, are dating, have been for as long as I can remember. Anyways, Baekhyun is really close to Sehun and Kai, so them having gone missing is hitting him much harder than he's showing…” 

 

It honestly isn't until Jeno pointed it out that Renjun notices the small things. How Baekhyun's droopy eyes are red rimmed, cheeks flushed probably from crying, body tense and fidgeting. Even the slight shake to his voice as he spoke. Renjun feels bad for not noticing sooner.

 

Jaemin speaks up next, pushing Chenle and Jisung out of the bench so he can get out. “Well, I got shit to do today so I have to go…” 

 

“You actually have plans today Nana? Surprising.” Jeno snorts 

Jaemin frowns “I have a life outside of you boneheads!” He mouths off.

Jeno just rolls have eyes at his friend. 

 

Jaemin leaves with a huff, not long after Chenle and Jisung saying that their going to Chenles to play videogames, and Mark and Donghyuck follow up with saying they're going out. Leaving Jeno to turn to Renjun with a smile. 

“Need a ride home?”

Renjun nods with his own thankful smile.

 

Jeno and Renjun leave the diner, sending Baekhyun a smile, and hop into Jenos truck. Renjun tucks his hands under his thighs as Jeno pulls them on the main road, trying not to freeze before he gets home. Jeno snorts, but leans over and cranks the heat up. Renjun squawks at him.

“THE TRUCK HAS HEAT?!”

Jeno suddenly jerks the wheel at the local scream with wide eyes. “What the hell Renjun! You scared me half to death!”

Renjun glares at him. 

“You made me freeze the other day! How are you not frozen!” 

 

Jeno sends Renjun his best apologetic smile, only getting a harder glare. He rubs at the back of his neck and mumbles.

“I run hot, and I don't think I've had anyone ride with me since I've got my license...sorry Junnie, I didn't mean to. Honest.” 

 

Renjun huffs, but rolls his eyes with a small smile. He sighs as he feels the heater warm the cab. 

There's a short pause, just the rumble of the truck engine and the heater vents making noise, but Renjuns curiosity gets the better of him. 

“What is your relationship with Baekhyun and...Chenyal was it?”

 

Jeno snorts “It's Chanyeol.” Renjun just hums, so Jeno continues “Well, like I said before it's kinda a long story...but basically, Taeyong grew up with Suho, meaning us dreamies grew up around Suhos friend group along with Taeyongs. Jesus this is hard...um...basically there's two large groups of friends, Taeyongs and Suhos...Taeyongs include us dreamies, Lucas, Jungwoo, Jaehyun. There's also Johnny, Ten, Sicheng, Yuta, and Doyoung, but you have met them yet, and probably won't for a bit because a lot of people are out of town...um anyways moving on...Suhos group has Chanyeol and Baekhyun, then there's Jongdae, Minseok, Kyungsoo, Lay, or Yixing, Kris, and Sehun and Kai…but most of then are also out of town.” 

 

Renjun nods along as Jeno speaks, trying to remember names the best he can. But there's one question on his mind that he can't contain.

“Donghyuck mentioned someone named Luhan? Who's that's?” 

Renjun watches as Jeno tenses up, hands gripping the wheel tight enough to make the leather creak in protest. He realizes he hit a hard subject, and frowns. “S-Sorry...forget I asked okay?” 

But Jeno just shakes his head and sighs, slowly slumping in his seat before speaking softly and sadly. 

“It's fine...um, Luhan was part of Suhos group, he was really close to everyone because he just wiggled his way into your heart...him and Baekhyun were really close, Luhan treated him like a little brother actually. But, well Luhan went missing four months ago…” 

Renjun frowns deeper “Where'd he go?”

Jeno shrugs. 

“Who knows...all I know is that he was found dead a month before you moved here.”

 

Renjun gulps and looks away to face the road, watching as they pull into his driveway.. Stunned and saddened, he feels a lump form in his throat.

“I'm sorry…” his voice is soft and shaky. 

 

Jeno looks to Renjun and shakes his head sadly, switching the key off and letting silence embrace them. “It's fine…” 

 

Renjun thinks about death and losing those close to him, and he watches in his head as his brother and new friends die before him, they all saddened him. His mind plays a clip of Zitao on a bed, dying slow, then it switches to Donghyuck, then Mark, Chenle, Jisung, Jaemin, and so on. Finally he watches Jeno die, watches the life fade from pretty brown eyes and feels his own eyes burn. It hurts too much to think about. 

Suddenly Renjun turns to Jeno, who's watching him with a nervous gaze, and launches himself at him, wrapping his arms around Jenos neck and burying his face. Jeno lels out a struggled  _ oof _ sound but instinctively wraps his own arms around Renjuns waist. 

Renjun inhales the smell of cedarwood and cheap cologne, feels Jeno's burning body heat warm him up faster than the heater. It's the first hug they've shared in the month they've known each other, but it feels like home to Renjun. It's funny how in the world movies and books they say that people fit together like puzzle pieces, but to Renjun their hug feels more like someone just protecting him,  _ safe _ .

  
  
  
  


Renjun watches as Jeno leaves, a smile playing on his lips and a warm heat in his chest. However his heart saddens as he thinks of Baekhyun again, and what Jeno had told him. How despite being in such a low place, be reminded so kind and sweet. 

Baekhyuns aura reminded him so much of Jungwoos, all sweet and airy, even the same calming sense. Suddenly Renjun feels the need to protect.

 

Renjun looks around and calls out, hearing nothing in return.

 

Zitao isn't home, so once he's calmed down Renjun runs up to his bedroom. 

 

He pulls out his little black box from under his bed and hums a soft tune he had heard from Donghyuck as he pulls out a few things, before placing the box back under his bed. 

Renjun clears an area on the ground and sets three purple pillar candles around him, one on both of his sides and one behind him, and then sets one white candle in front of him. He also sets a small black bowl in his lap, filled with Basil, White Sage and even three drops of his own blood, and glances around himself for a moment. Renjun groans as his eyes land of a small bottle on the other side of his bed, he bites at his lip and sighs. He raises his hand and aims it at the small bottle, watching as it lifts into the air and floats towards him. A small smile on his face. 

It was something he never told Zitao about, the whole moving things as he willed them to. It was something he feared telling his brother, just like the dreams. Because he'd never seen Zitao, or any other witch do it and that scared him. It's sad to think that Renjun thought of himself as a freak amongst freaks. 

Renjun shook off his thoughts and focused on pouring the bottle in lines to connect to candles, white salt draining from it's opening in thin trails, and once that's done he tosses the bottle back into his bed.

 

Renjun lets out a soft calming sigh, clearing his mind, closing his eyes, and focusing on the slow flow of energies around him. Three of the four candles suddenly ignite, leaving only the white candle unlit.

 

He feels the soft pull of the Earth's flowing energies, the streams running in every direction under the soil, feels the heat of the flames of the candles, smells the salt, and slowly he brings his hands to hover over the small bowl and sends a pulse of his own magick down into it, suddenly feeling heat of the fire now burning away at the herbs and blood. 

 

Renjun removes his hands and slowly opens his eyes, he stares down at the white candle until it ignites itself. He takes another deep breath. 

Renjun pictures Baekhyun, with his sweet smile and soft droopy eyes, and imagines a white ribbon wrapping around him. He focuses on sending a pulse of his own care and love and magick into the fibers of that ribbon. Encasing Baekhyun with his protection. 

 

Renjun can feel a bit of resistance, but it slowly fades away like it realizes Renjun isn't going to harm. It's a strange feeling, almost like a protection barrier but stronger and more internal, like how Zitao had described the feeling when he tried to cast spells in Renjun. Like there's was a brick wall keeping out magick. It's a bit suspicious honestly, but Renjun is too focused on pushing past the wall to heal.

 

After twenty minutes Renjun is left tired and drained. He let's the image of Baekhyun and the ribbon fade back into the image of his bedroom, and watches as the flames of the candles and in the bowl slowly fade and extinguish themselves. The candles themselves are nothing but melted puddles, so he breaks them off the floor as he starts cleaning, trying to ignore the dizziness he gets as he stands up. Once the candles are gone and the salt is cleaned up he looks at the bowl and looks to see none of the herbs or blood left thankfully, he smiles despite feeling sick and sets the bowl beside the box under his bed and plops down on said bed. 

Renjun stares at the ceiling for a moment, before letting his eyes slowly droop closed. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


_ A few miles away a short pretty male suddenly stops as he walks beside a much taller man. The taller turns around, staring worriedly at the other.  _

_ “Baek? Are you okay?” _

 

_ The short man, Baekhyun, looks to his companion with a soft smile and tears welling in his eyes.  _

_ “He put a protection spell on me Yeol…” _


	5. 05 [Part 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back to school, Diners, and Teenage tropes pt1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait guys, I've been going through some serious stuff for the last few months and I just haven't had the time or motivation to write. 
> 
> I'm still going to updating very slow, and I feel like what I'm writing isn't good at all, but I am determined to finish this story if it kills me! 
> 
> This chapter is in two parts because I needed to uplaod soon and I figured "eh why not.." the next chapter will be much longer and more enjoyable, this is very filler...still hope it satisfys you for now! 
> 
>  
> 
> Also, ASTRO is having a comeback (I've already pre-ordered the album and I'm so excited) and as you all know their company is kinda shit and sucks at .... Being a company...so please go support them they deserve it!

 Much to every students annoyance, school resumed that following Monday. Meaning Renjun was currently standing in front of his locker half asleep as he grabbed his books. Beside him Jaemin and Donghyuck are carbon copies of himself, sleepily shoving books into their bags and sharing yawns. 

It had only been four days since Sehun Oh and Jongin Kim, also known as Kai, had been reported missing, and the student body already showed signs of mourning.

_MISSING_ _Persons_ posters were plastered to the school walls, and everyone wore sad faces and frowns. Apparently Kai and Sehun were popular enough for the students to feel their absence, Renjun hadn't even met the two older boys yet even he felt the gloomy air of the halls.

Renjun had spent Saturday sleeping off the exhaustion from his in the moment spell on Baekhyun, and then used Sunday to do a bit of research on Cooperville.

He hadn't learned much, just that the town use to be heavy into farming and oil. Renjun had looked everywhere, the towns people, the library, even the internet, but found virtually nothing important. The only thing that stood out was how after 2002 people started going missing at higher numbers. This fact unnerved him a bit. Jeno had mentioned that Luhan had went missing and was later found dead, followed by the current Kai and Sehuns reports, all in one year and it was only late September. 

Unfortunately the town doesn't give out their missing persons reports to the public unless requested by the family, so Renjun overall found nothing and ended up with more questions.  Honestly he didn't even get to bed until well past three in the morning and he was starting to regret it. 

 

Renjun turned to look at his friends, Jaemin meeting his gaze with a tired smile, while Donghyuck yawned again and leaned onto Jaemin as he closed his eyes.  _ Today was going to be a long day. _

  
  


And a long day it was. 

Even though Renjun only had three classes before lunch, it felt more like six. Each class started the same it seemed, with the teacher talking to the student about the missing kids and how while it  _ “ may be hard, but we can't let this disrupt our learning” _ . And by the time lunch rolls around Renjun had never been so relieved.

 

Renjun plops down next to Jaemin, his usual spot, with a loud audible sigh. Donghyuck does the same, but also makes a show of dramatically leaning onto poor Mark who looks ready to fall asleep face first into the mashed potatoes on his lunch tray. Chenle and Jisung are both shoving their own lunches into their mouths faster than Renjuns ever seen someone do, and Jaemin is lazily scrolling on his phone. Jeno, Renjun notes with mild amusement, is the only one of their group with any real energy. 

He's sitting at his own bench as usual, shifting his food around his tray with disgust on his face but mischief in his eyes. 

 

Jeno suddenly clears his throat, drawing everyone's attention to him, and looks up at the boys with a smile. 

“Who wants to go to Riverdale tonight?” 

 

Chenle is the first to speak up, screeching with food still stuffed in his mouth. 

“Can we pweash?!” He jerks his head and looks around the group as he chews obnoxiously. 

 

Jaemin stares at Chenle with so much disgust in his eyes as he speaks to Jeno that Renjun wants to take a picture. 

“I'm down…” he pauses before speaking softer “Jesus Christ Chenle that's disgusting…”

 

Donghyuck nods vigorously with a dopey smile, and Mark just hums in agreement. 

Renjun however looks at Jeno in confusion. 

“Um...what's Riverdale?” 

 

“Riverdale is-” 

“A big city twenty minutes away from here! They have bigger stores and restaurants and there's even a Starbucks!” Donghyuck interrupts.

Jeno glares at Donghyuck but nods all the same. “Yeah what he said…” 

Donghyuck seems oblivious to Jeno's glare as he smiles wide, teeth showing, and Renjun snorts. 

 

“I'll have to ask Tao…” Renjun says with a smile hopeful smile and begins pulling out his phone. 

 

The boys mouth off about things they've needed, Jisung mentioning needing new shoes while Donghyuck says he wants a new sweater, even Mark spits out his need of headphones. 

Renjun feels eyes on him as he gazes down at his phone, typing away. He quickly finishes his message to his brother and looks up to meet Jeno amused gaze on him. Renjun blinks. 

“What…?” 

 

“You stick your tongue out when you text.” 

 

Renjun feels his face heat up but exclaims nevertheless.

“I do not!”

Jeno snorts and shakes his head. 

“You do! It's cute…” 

 

If there was a way for Renjun to properly express how Jeno simply calling something he does  _ cute _ , which indirectly means Jeno thinks  _ he _ is cute, it would probably be with a lot of screaming and pillow punching. 

Instead he feels his face and ears heat up.

Renjun doesn't speak much after that, too caught up in the story Donghyuck starts telling and his lunch, so he doesn't get to see how Jeno reacted to his own words.

 

As lunch comes to an end and the group separate to go to their classes, Renjun has to face Jeno again. Something he both hates and loves at the same time. 

Jeno sends Renjun a smile as they walk to their only shared class, English, they walk silently but it's comfortable and their shoulders brush as they walk. Renjun hates that his heart flutters in his chest each time.

  
  
  


Renjun sighs in relief as the dismissal bell rings for the end of the day, his back aches from the desks and he's developing a headache from staring at the board for hours. Beside him Jaemin and Donghyuck are gathering their things so he decides to follow along hastily, shoving his things into his bag and standing to follow them out of the class silently. 

The three scamper down the crowded hall, Donghyuck screaming in people's ears to  _ move out of the way _ , and Jaemin rolling his eyes along with Renjun ducking his head to remain unnoticed. 

 

Renjun focuses on the two in front of him, his hand gripping the back of Jaemins hoodie loosely as they walk as not to lose him, the loud voices of the surrounding students makes his headache worse and the gross feeling of being in a crowd making his skin crawl. He praises the goddess as he sees the front doors of the school.

 

Once the three are outside Renjun takes a moment to take a deep breath of the cold November air and sighs in relief. He can finally see around himself, and feels the calming aura of his friends in the parking lot. He continues to follow Donghyuck and Jaemin, the former has actually left them in the dust as he runs straight to where Mark is leaned against his car with Jenos black truck parked beside him. Renjun can see Jisung and Chenle are already seated in the back seat of Mark's car. 

Jaemin grabs Renjuns wrist, who cringes at the grip, and drags him faster to the vehicles. 

 

Jeno is sitting on the hood of his truck, watching as Donghyuck launches himself at Mark, who lets out a audible  _ oof _ and instinctively wraps the boy in his arms so they don't fall down. Renjun stands beside Jaemin, who has yet to loosen his grip, with a small smile as he watches his friends. 

“So who's riding with who?” 

 

The group pauses, and turn to look at Jaemin, who simply obliviously smiles. Jeno let's out a snort and hops down from his truck, boots making a loud  _ thud _ as he lands on the asphalt, making the four others avert their attention. 

“Hyuck and Mark with the kids, and Jaemin can ride with me and Junnie.”

 

Jaemin nodded his head enthusiastically.

“I call the window seat!”

 

Renjun barely misses the wink Donghyuck sends Jeno, who's busy having his cheeks tint a light pink as he clears his throat. Jeno however turns to Renjun, a shy smile on his lips. 

“So um, guess you're sitting next to me...if that's okay? You can probably ride with Mark if you want, just squeeze in the back with the kids…”

 

Renjun can't not return the smile

“I'm fine with riding with you Jeno” 

Jeno nods happily, earning coughs and gags from Donghyuck and Mark. 

 

“Ew, stop flirting and let's hit the road!” Donghyuck screeches, sending Jeno a wink and patting Mark on the chest before making a beeline to the passenger side of Mark's car. Jeno makes a sound of protest beside Renjun, but he's too busy staring at the asphalt with red cheeks to care. He hears Mark let out a loud laugh and feels Jeno sigh beside him. 

Renjun looks up and meets Jeno's eyes, that hold both nervousness and uncertainty, and Jeno sends him a small smile. 

“Let's go okay?”

 

Renjun nods and speed walks to the passenger door of Jenos truck, glaring at Jaemin as he does, who just winks at him. Once Renjun is settled in the middle seat Jaemin slides in after him, smiling happily as he slams the door shut with more force than needed, and Renjun feels himself tense when Jeno follows suit. 

“Don't slam my door Jaemin, you're gonna break it one day!” Jeno mumbles as he starts his truck up. 

 

Beside Renjun, Jaemin scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Whatever  _ dad _ .”

 

Renjun feels Jeno tense and hears him almost growl in annoyance and can't help but feel pity for him. Renjun has only know Jaemin for a month and a half and he can only stand so much of his quirky personality, he can't imagine how Jeno has done it for so long. So, without thinking, Renjun leans into Jeno a little more, and smiles to himself when he feels Jeno relax.

Renjun watches as Mark's car pulls out, Jeno following right after, the turn making him lean even more into Jeno. 

 

They're barely out of the parking lot when Jaemin speaks up, face turned down to stare at his phone. “Donghyuck said we're stopping by Baeks first to grab some dinner, Jisung and Chenle are quote unquote  _ starving and need food so they can continue growing _ .” 

 

Jeno snorts “Not like Jisung needs to grow anymore!” 

 

After that Renjun thinks about how tall Jisung really is, the boy is the youngest but manages to be the tallest of the seven, although barely. It also makes Renjun realize that he is in fact the shortest, just barely behind Donghyuck. It should annoying him more, but after years of living with a brother who's over six foot and who constantly brings his  _ tall _ friends around, maybe he's just used to it. 

 

“why is it that everyone I meet is taller than me…” Renjun still mumbles to himself.

 

Jaemin and Jeno share a laugh, before Jaemin tries to comfort Renjun, throwing an arm around his shoulders. 

“You just haven't met Ten!”

 

Renjun furrows his eyebrows and turns to Jeno, who just smiles and focuses on the road and approaching diner. “Ten is Johnny's boyfriend, I mentioned them the other night when I took you home. You haven't met them yet…” 

Renjun frowns but nods, watching as Jeno pulls the truck into the open space between Mark's car and a familiar looking silver Jeep. Jaemin bolts out of the truck, limbs flailing around chaotically and incoherent words spilling from his lips as he darts into the diner. 

 

Renjun can't resist the laugh that bubbles in his chest as his friend, amused and concerned at the same time. Beside him Jeno is rolling his eyes harder than needed, too used to the crazy antics of his friends. 

The two slide out of the truck, Renjun glaring at the Jeep with such curiosity that Jeno is slightly worried when he glances at the older. 

“Why are you staring at Lucas's  _ stupid _ Jeep?” Jeno asks with more  force than needed

 

Renjun makes a noise of triumph, and pumps a fist in the air. “That's where I've seen it! God I'm so smart, it's Lucas's!” 

Jeno smiles at the cute behavior, but suddenly frown. 

“Wait! I told you who it belongs to, you didn't figure it out yourself!” He whines 

Renjun turns to the taller with a small innocent smile, and hums to himself as he walks to the Diners door, Jeno stuming behind him wailing complaints. 

  
  


Inside is just as calm as the first day Renjun came, only instead of the loud clank of his friends breaking dishes it's a loud deep voice screaming his name. “Renjun!”

 

Renjun turns to the voices owner with a confused smile, only to be wrapped up in a hard chest and squeezed hard enough to let out a airy squeak. He's spun around, feeling the earth spinning, and a deep laugh rumbling out of the persons chest, where Renjuns ear is pressed against. It seems like forever before the figure let's him down, more like he's yanked from them actually. 

Unfortunately instead of being squeezed, he's now has his back pressing into a solid body and an arm wrapped around his chest squeezing him. But even in the franticly switch of partners he can more feel than hear the deep rumble of what sounds like a growl erupt from behind him, making him and everyone else in the diner freeze.

Renjun let's his eyes focus, a few feet in front of him stands a shocked looking Lucas, who still has his arms out for a hug, behind him is Renjuns friends and Jungwoo all sitting,  _ er standing _ , at a booth, their faces nervous and worried as they stare in Renjuns direction, or more so behind Renjun. 

Renjun slowly tilts his head back to see a flash of blond hair, and tilts more to the side to see none other than Jeno glaring at Lucas hard enough to scare Renjun for his safety. 

“...Jeno…?” Renjuns voice is small and whispered, but it seems to shake Jeno out of whatever trance he's in because the next thing Renjun knows is that Jeno releases him as if he's been burned and is a good few steps away.  

Renjun let's out a breath, turning back to look at Lucas, who now seems more amused than scared as he watches Jeno with a glint in his eyes that Renjun can't place. Renjun is about to speak up but before he can even open his mouth a soft voice is speaking and Jungwoo is touching Lucas's shoulder while looking at Renjun. 

“Ah, Renjun! I'm sorry, I'd love to catch up but me and Yukhei were just leaving…” 

Renjun tries to reply but Jungwoo is already gripping and pulling Lucas by his bicep towards the door, past a flustered Jeno. 

 

Renjun doesn't understand what just happened, and the fact that Jeno reacted the way he did both scares and flusters him. The sound Jeno had made sounded carnal and animalistic, and the glare he gave Lucas made Renjun wonder how aggressive he would have gotten had Renjun not distracted him. Then there was why exactly, but Renjun couldn't even make a guess. 

It made Renjun wonder if this was how relationships worked in America, although he had never seen Mark act like that around Donghyuck, but than again mark seemed to hate the younger more than anything. Zitao never told about Renjun about dating, and Renjun had never been interested until now, so maybe this was how it worked. Was Jeno showing he was a worthy mate for Renjun? Like male birds when they built nests and looked pretty?  _ Did Renjun really just compare him and Jeno to birds? _

  
  


After Jungwoo and Lucas made their quick escape, Renjun and Jeno had awkwardly joined the booth, where the group also seemed awkward and nervous. Donghyuck was sitting awfully close to Mark, who surprisingly actually leaned back against his boyfriend,  _ like normal boyfriends _ . Jaemin endlessly scrolled on his phone, eyes glancing around the table every once in a while, Jisung scooted his water glass around the table, eyes never leaving the cup, and Chenle was just sitting there pouring salt onto the table and drawing in it like sand. Renjun and Jeno sat ridged next to one another, Renjun looking at his lap, and Jeno staring intently at the menu despite knowing everything on it. Nobody spoke, only the sound of Jaemins phone keyboard and jisungs cup scraping the table as noise, and when Baekhyun came up, bright smile on his face, everyone seemed to relax. 

“Good afternoon kiddies, what can I get you?” 

 

Jisung and Chenle spoke first, literally speaking at once and surprisingly ordering the same thing that made the whole group stare at the two as they stared on another off with weird out faces. Donghyuck speaks next, a scoff leaving his lips. 

“We only came for the kids…” 

 

Baekhyun pouts and puts his hands on his hips, cocking them to one side. “What, so you didn't even think of seeing me? I thought we were closer than that you brat!” 

Renjun watches as Donghyuck whips his head around to face Baekhyun, eyes wide and scared. “No, no, no! Of course we came to see you too Baek! How are you? You're looking a little plump, Chanyeol feeding you well I see. Your chubby cheeks are back! Man I wish I had your hips... Mark are my hips wide? I mean I have big thighs, but I swear that's just where all me-” Donghyuck's babbling is muffled by Marks hand over the boys mouth. Baekhyun is left blinking at the young boy with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but eventually lets out a hum and turns to the rest of the group. 

“So are none of you gonna order?” 

Everyone shakes their head, Baekhyun sighs but nods nevertheless, glancing at the group one by one, gaze lingering on Renjun a little longer than the others, before turning around and walking to the kitchen. 

 

After he leaves, the tense atmosphere from earlier seems to had disappeared, leaving the group to stare at Donghyuck with uniquely strange looks. Donghyuck blinks at the attention. 

“What? Baekhyun has nice hips…"


	6. Important

Hello and Salutations~ 

It seems like I haven't updated this story in so long, and honestly I feel terrible about that...

However, I'm not going to write you all a message about how I'm abandoning this story and what not, because I'm not! I am however going to put it on hiatus and hold until I can find more time and motivation to finish! 

 

I fully plan on rewriting this whole story, because I'm not happy with how it's turning out and my plot line and storyboard is giving me a head ache with all the plot holes I have...however I can't say that I'll be starting to revamping soon, because of two reasons.

1\. I have such a hard time keeping the motivation to write, mainly because I'm such a weak writter.

2\. I have a different story I want to focus on.

 

I won't go into much detail, just because I feel like you all don't need to hear my sob story about stress and the annoyance of writing, so I'll just leave you with this. 

! I WILL BE REWRITING LAVENDER BLOOD, HOWEVER IT WONT BE UP FOR A WHILE !

 

I'm keeping this short and sweet, so I hope you all have a nice day! Sorry to disappoint, but I'll be back : )


End file.
